EU removes Kyrgyzstan from air safety blacklist after two decades
Kyrgyzstan has been officially removed from the European Union’s air safety blacklist after 20 years of restrictions that barred its certified airlines from operating flights to EU member states, Qazinform News Agency reports.
According to the presidential administration’s press service, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport informed the Kyrgyz side that all air carriers certified in Kyrgyzstan had been fully removed from the EU flight ban list.
The decision follows a meeting of the EU Air Safety Committee (ASC) held May 19-21, 2026, and will be formalized through a corresponding European Commission regulation.
Kyrgyzstan had remained on the EU air safety blacklist since 2006.
“The country has carried out systematic work in recent years to reform civil aviation, strengthen government oversight of flight safety, and bring the national system into compliance with ICAO standards,” the statement notes.
Earlier, it was reported that Kuwait had reopened its airspace on Saturday after a temporary closure imposed as a precautionary measure following Iran's ballistic missile attacks on the country, according to the Kuwait Public Authority of Civil Aviation (PACA).