Crashed Airbus had sparked EU probe: EU official

By Pete Harrison and Marcin Grajewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - An Airbus plane that crashed off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros on Tuesday had sparked a European Union inquiry two years ago into Yemenia airline's safety record, an EU Commission official said.

Separately, EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said Yemenia had passed the necessary checks to avoid a ban on operating in the 27-nation bloc, but that EU experts would ask it to explain what had happened in the Comoros accident.

The Airbus A310-300 from Yemen with 153 people on board, including 66 French nationals, crashed into the sea off the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros as it approached in bad weather early on Tuesday, officials said.

So far, only one survivor -- a 14-year-old girl -- has been found, a senior Comoros official said, correcting an earlier report that had given the age of the rescued child as five.

"In July 2007, this plane gave us occasion to start inquiring about the safety record of Yemenia," the European Commission official said of the Airbus A310-300 which crashed as it approached the Comoros with 153 people on board.

"The concern was about incomplete reporting procedure and incomplete follow-up ... Member states did 24 inspections over two years, showing its record was improving," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said it had suspended Yemenia's permission to maintain EU-registered planes in February after the carrier failed a set of audit inspections.

NO BLACKLISTING

Tajani, the EU's top transport official, said the airline had not been banned from operating in Europe, but has now been invited to appear before the EU's air safety committee as soon as possible to explain the accident.

"The airline wasn't on the (EU) blacklist because it had passed the checks ... After today's accident we shall be contacting the company and we should verify the blacklist," he told a news conference in Brussels.

Tajani later met EU air safety experts to discuss the implications of the crash, which occurred in bad weather, and said he would propose to other world airline authorities the creation of a global airlines blacklist.

"If we want to achieve better safety, I am convinced that we need to have a worldwide blacklist. The European blacklist works pretty well in Europe," he said of a list set up two years ago.

EASA, which overseas EU air safety and also certifies maintenance operations outside the 27-nation bloc, granted Yemenia the right to maintain EU-registered aircraft in 2006 but suspended it in February this year, a spokeswoman said.

The move would not have affected the Airbus A310 plane which crashed, since that aircraft was registered in Yemen, but it is further evidence of European concerns over the airline's operations.

Tajani said a European air safety conference would be held as soon as possible.

(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; writing by Mark John; Editing by Richard Balmforth)