British Airways said on Tuesday that Angola had suspended its flight licence to operate in the African nation in a move seen as retaliatory after European Union steps to ban Angolan airline TAAG on safety grounds.
”The Angolan CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] took away the operating permit that we had … effectively because flights from that country were banned by the EU,” a BA spokesperson said.
He added that the BA licence ”has been temporarily suspended”, but the company did not know how long the ban would last.
An EU experts’ committee recommended last month that TAAG Angola Airlines be added to a list of carriers banned from flying to the EU for safety reasons.
The decision was expected to be formally approved on Friday.
TAAG has sought to reassure customers of their safety after one of the carrier’s aircraft crash-landed on June 28.
Six people, including an Italian priest, were killed and dozens more injured when a Boeing 737 belonging to the airline crash-landed at an airport in northern Angola.
However, TAAG has said that no ”final decision” had yet been taken by the EU to ban its aircraft from European air space. — Sapa-AFP