The European Commission has updated the EU Air Safety List of the 16 June 2016, and all airlines certified in Zambia are cleared from the list of airlines that do not meet international safety standards, and are therefore subject to an operating ban or operational restrictions within the European Union. EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said: "Aviation safety is my top priority and today's update illustrates our continuous efforts to offer the highest level of air safety to European citizens. I am happy to say that after seven years of work and extensive European technical assistance; we were able to clear all Zambian air carriers from the list."

NTU Managing Director, Lars Bentzen said: "I am glad to see that the EU funded assistance project implemented by NTU to the Zambian Aviation sector has now shown its main tangible result, we have all been waiting for this news since the end of our assistance, which removed all the major safety and security concerns." NTU Head of Project Implementation Unit, Emina Kapetanovic, explains that NTU has worked hard to provide efficient consultancy services and assistance to Zambia for achieving those results. Emina Kapetanovic said: "We are pleased to see that the hard work of NTU in very good collaboration with the Zambian aviation sector consisting of both authorities and private sector has resulted in such major achievement for the country. The removal of Zambia from the EU Air Safety List is merely a representation of all the achievements of Zambian Aviation Sector in Aviation safety and security made with the support of the NTU Technical Assistance project. This major milestone in the development of the Zambian Aviation also constitutes the need of continues progress and further assistance to the sector to ensure the sustainability of the achieved results."

For over 4 years of TA project, which started in September 2011 and ended in December 2015, NTU has been assisting the Zambian Authorities to improve and develop the Zambia's aviation sector with respect to safety and security. The project involved training of the aviation authority staff and updating of legal regulatory systems, which resulted in a new Aviation Act with accompanied regulations. The European Commission had on 14 July 2009 banned all Zambian registered airlines from flying to Europe with regards to safety concerns and has advised citizens of EU not to use the airlines. The EU has also identified and noted the safety and regulatory shortcomings of the Civil Aviation Authority in Zambia, which was the result of ICAO’s (International Civil Aviation) 2009 audit of Zambian Civil Aviation.

The objective of the Technical Assistance Project was to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Civil Aviation regulator in Zambia and to help ensure a safe and secure aviation environment through: good governance; implementation of international civil aviation standards and, where appropriate, harmonisation with EU standards; cooperation with European aviation authorities/agencies and relevant stakeholders; and policy support. The extensive technical assistance and support provided by the NTU Team and the vast commitment of Zambian Authorities and specifically the Zambian CAA significantly improved levels of safety in the Zambian Aviation sector and eventually resulted in Zambia being taken off the list, a few months after the completion of the project.

For further information please contact: Emina Kapetanovic ehk@ntu.eu Nikolay Chavov nc@ntu.eu