France bans Cameroonian flights

Cameroon Airlines joins five other airlines banned by France

France has suspended all flights by Cameroon Airlines for an indefinite period on safety grounds.

Tests carried out earlier this year found that the airline failed to meet international safety requirements, the French civil aviation authority said.

The French and Cameroonian authorities had agreed on a plan of action to correct the problems, but new tests revealed that problems continued.

Cameroon's transport minister has expressed surprise over the decision.

FRANCE'S BLACKLIST Air Koryo, North Korea Air Mozambique (LAM), including its subsidiary Transairways Air Saint-Thomas, US Virgin Islands Cameroon Airlines International Air Service, Liberia Phuket Airlines, Thailand

The airline joins five others blacklisted by France in August.

Cameroon Airlines is already banned from flying in the UK's airspace.

The issue of blacklisting came to prominence when 148 people - most of them French - died in January 2004 in a crash involving an airline which had been banned from Swiss airspace, a fact which the passengers had no way of knowing.

The European Commission reached a deal in February to allow the creation of EU-wide blacklists of unsafe airlines by the end of the year.