EU BLACKLISTS TAAG ANGOLAN AIRLINES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LUANDA 000693

SIPDIS

HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC

SIPDIS

STATE FOR DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION - CONNIE HUNTER
ROME FOR TSA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/03/2017
TAGS: EAIR ECON AO
SUBJECT: EU BLACKLISTS TAAG ANGOLAN AIRLINES

REF: A. LUANDA 631

B. LUANDA 675

Classified By: CDA Francisco Fernandez for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: The EU has included TAAG (Angolan National
Airlines) on its black list as of July 6. Angola flirted
with banning all EU flights to Angola in retaliation, but
strong words of advice from the Ambassador and other foreign
diplomats convinced the GRA to act sensibly to confront the
issue and improve aviation safety rather than attempt to
assuage national pride. Media reaction in the government
press was strongly nationalistic, focusing on TAAG,s modern
fleet of newly-purchased Boeing airplanes, rather than its
inability to meet ICAO aviation standards. However the
independent press was highly critical of the Ministry,s
leadership in tackling the problems and guaranteeing aviation
safety. The announcement of the ban came on June 28, 2007,
the same day a TAAG domestic airplane crashed in the northern
city of M,banza Congo killing six passengers and seriously
wounding another thirty-eight of the total 78 passengers.
End Summary.


2. (C) On Thursday, June 28, the European Union announced
that it would include TAAG - Angolan National Airlines in its
black list effective July 6, 2007. Details were not released
regarding the specific reasons for inclusion in the black
list, however reports focused on out-of-date flight manuals.
During the May visit of the Transportation Security Agency,s
Representative to Luanda (reftel),he noted no net change in
civil aviation improvements and advised the Angolans of the
urgent need for Angola to move forward on aviation security
if it wished to remain in the Safe Skies program.

Transport Minister Seeks and Heeds US Advice
--------------

3. (C) Minister of Transportation Luis Brandao requested a
meeting with then Ambassador Efird on July 3 to discuss the
issue. Vice Minister for Aviation (and former head of
ENANA),Helder Preza and Director of Aviation Security
(INAVIC) Pombal were also present; DCM and P/E Chief
accompanied the Ambassador. Brandao started off with the
explanation that the EU was punishing Angola for having
purchased Boeing airplanes instead of Airbus. Brandao and
Preza characterized the European inspections of TAAG planes
as nit-picking, and were not willing to admit their validity.
He mentioned the GRA was considering retaliatory action but
he assured us that the Luanda-Houston petroleum industry
charter &Houston Express,8 would not be effected, going so
far as to ask whether it could increase the number of flights
per week if the GRA implemented a ban against the European
airlines.


4. (C) Ambassador Efird downplayed the Minister,s logic,
noting that many other countries had purchased Boeing planes
and had not suffered EU retaliation. She told him that
rather than deny offenses, Angola should start any public
response by iterating the importance of aviation security to
the GRA. Further she advised the Minister to work with
Boeing or one of the European carriers to improve TAAG and
the GRA,s safety record in order to get off the banned list
as soon as possible. She advised the GRA not to cut itself
economically and &shoot itself in the foot8 by banning EU
airlines. Referring to the previous US TSA visits (ref A)
she reminded Minister Brandao that Angola needed to complete
the process of establishing an independent airline regulatory
authority with power to enforce safety measures. She also
reaffirmed the USG interest in working with the GRA on safe
skies encouraging it to take the next steps necessary in our
ongoing consultations.

Goading the EU
--------------

5. (C) The EU's resident Ambassador told the DCM at the
July 4 reception that Angolan threats to ban European cariers
greatly eroded possible support for the GRA on the issue. He
added that the EU commissioners felt no great urgency to
provide technical assistance to Angola under such
circumstances. Apparently, at the June 28 and July 4
meetings in Brussels on the issue, TAAG representatives
continued defiant and blamed the EU attutude on TAAG's
purhase of Boeings and retaliation by the French. According
to Luanda based EU staff, while the Angolans blamed the
problem on the French authorities, ramp checks at all TAAG's
European destinatios came up with the same problems.
Although Brussels denied any connection to the EU ban, on
July 6, EU President Durao Barroso cancelled his planned July

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13-14 visit to Luanda.

Public Opinion on the side of Aviation Safety
--------------

6. (U) The Angolan government-run press portrayed the ban as
a European effort to show favoritism to European carriers and
oppress an African national airline from succeeding by
invoking unfair competition. The perception in Angola was
that with the TAAG purchase of six new Boeing airplanes in
November 2006 the airline has automatically complied with
international regulations. However the independent press was
highly critical of the Ministry of Transportation and TAAG
officials urging the GRA to take seriously the charges laid
against TAAG.

British Airways Dinged for the UK,s Efficiency
-------------- -

7. (C) The British Ambassador to Angola told us that the UK
Department of Transportation on Friday June 29 informed the
GRA that it was enforcing the EU ban prior to the July 4th EU
vote. This caused the GRA to retaliate by revoking British
Airway,s landing rights in Luanda, forcing the cancellation
of the once weekly BA London-Luanda flight only hours before
it was scheduled to depart on June 30. BA is still awaiting
official permission to resume its flight although it has
verbal assurances this will occur for the July 13-14 flight.
Other EU carriers continue to operate on their regular
schedules. For its near daily flights to Lisbon, TAAG has
worked out an arrangement to ferry people as far as Sal, Cape
Verde, from where Cape Verde Airlines carries the passengers
to Lisbon.

TAAG Plane Crashes in Northern Angola
--------------

8. (SBU) In an unfortunate coincidence, the announcement of
the EU blacklist came almost simultaneously with the news
that a TAAG domestic aircraft had crashed on landing in the
northern city of M,banza Congo, killing six and seriously
wounding thirty-eight of the total 78 passengers. The only
Amcit on the plane walked away with a bump on his knee. The
TAAG plane was a Boeing 737. Per ICAO regulations for
airplane crashes involving US-manufactured craft, Embassy
Luanda formally offered the assistance of the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Boeing to the GRA on
June 29. Two Angolan civil aviation officials have traveled
to Washington with the black boxes from the downed aircraft
in order to investigate the causes of the crash. Witnesses
on the scene believe the crash to have been caused by pilot
error.


9. (C) Comment: Angola saw the EU ban as a direct blow to its
national integrity and considered retaliation by banning EU
flights as a matter of national honor, despite the
devastating effect this would have had on the Angolan
economy. The GRA,s frustration and wrath at the current
situation is directed at the Europeans, in particular the
French, as a number of the inspections were carried out at
Charles de Gaulle airport. However, it is now - at least
publicly - focused on the immediate steps it needs to take to
improve its civil aviation oversight and standards. We
believe this is an excellent opportunity for the USG to
reinvigorate our support for capacity building with GRA civil
aviation officials. Given the wake-up call the GRA is facing
with the EU, and the President,s statements to Ambassador
Efird (ref B) we believe the GRA will be forced and its civil
aviation organization empowered to take some of the steps it
has been dragging its feet on over the last year. USG
technical assistance to the GRA and TAAG at this time could
only strengthen our bilateral relationship.
FERNANDEZ