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Viewing cable 09LIBREVILLE37, GABON REFORMS CIVIL AVIATION AMID CONCERNS OVER

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09LIBREVILLE37 2009-01-26 11:00 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Embassy Libreville
VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLC #0037/01 0261100
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 261100Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0874
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L LIBREVILLE 000037 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR AF/C LISA KORTE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2019 
TAGS: EAIR ECON EINV GB TP
SUBJECT: GABON REFORMS CIVIL AVIATION AMID CONCERNS OVER 
SAFETY 
 
Classified By: DCM Nathan Holt for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) Civil aviation in Gabon is in disarray.  Since July 
2008, the European Union has imposed safety-related 
restrictions on all Gabon-certified air carriers, including a 
complete ban on most companies.  In response, Gabon is 
scrambling to put in place a new, independent civil aviation 
authority, aimed at ensuring the safety of airline passengers 
and employees and thus bringing an end to the EU ban. 
Embassy Libreville, with limited resources or expertise, is 
attempting to monitor the safety of available air carriers in 
order to minimize the risks associated with necessary travel 
within Gabon and to and from Sao Tome.  END SUMMARY. 
 
---------------------------- 
EU Imposes Comprehensive Ban 
---------------------------- 
 
2. (U) On July 24, 2008, the European Union,s committee for 
aviation safety imposed restrictions on all companies 
certified by Gabon,s civil aviation authorities.  Banned 
carriers include Solenta Aviation Gabon, Sky Gabon, Nouvelle 
Air Affaires Gabon, SCD Aviation, Nationale et Regionale 
Transport, Air Services SA, and Air Tourist (Allegiance). 
Two carriers, Gabon Airlines and Afrijet, are permitted to 
enter Europe, but are restricted to their present levels of 
operations. 
 
3. (U) According to official EU sources, the present ban 
resulted from two separate audits, both of which identified 
significant safety deficiencies on the part of Gabon,s civil 
aviation authority as well as the airlines it oversees.  In 
2007, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) 
carried out a Universal Safety Oversight Audit and reported 
major shortcomings in the capacity and performance of 
Gabon,s civil aviation authority, which had failed to 
implement more than 93% of the ICAO standards.  The ICAO 
audit was followed by French inspections through the Safety 
Assessment of Foreign Aircraft program (SAFA), which produced 
evidence of serious, systematic breaches of safety in the 
operations of the air carriers certified in Gabon. 
 
4. (C) In response to the negative audit results and in 
anticipation of the EU ban, the government of Gabon undertook 
to reform its civil aviation oversight system, adopting a new 
civil aviation law in May 2008 and, two months later, a law 
ordering the establishment of a new, independent National 
Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC).  Gabonese authorities 
reportedly told the EU that the new civil aviation system 
would be operational by December 2008.  Gabon anticipated the 
lifting of the EU ban by November 2008, when the EU committee 
on aviation safety met in Brussels to review the EU blacklist 
of banned airlines.  However, the committee concluded that 
progress had been insufficient to lift the ban. 
Specifically, the committee noted that at the time of their 
meeting, ANAC had yet to find a director or other key 
personnel, and that ANAC did not have the physical 
infrastructure necessary to support its activities.  The 
committee also questioned the degree of ANAC,s independence, 
concluding that the ultimate authority to oversee civil 
aviation still rests with the Ministry of Transportation. 
 
5. (C) Following the November meeting of the EU committee on 
aviation safety, the government of Gabon requested that the 
ICAO provide technical assistance, at Gabon,s expense, 
towards making the ANAC operational and carrying out other 
reforms necessary for a lifting of the EU ban.   Three ICAO 
advisors, former Air France pilots, arrived in late November 
2008 to work with the ANAC and the banned air carriers for a 
period of between six and eighteen months.  A fourth 
technical advisor was expected to join the team in January 
2009.  The goal of the ongoing ICAO technical mission is to 
have the ANAC up to speed in time for the next EU aviation 
safety committee meeting on March 24-26, 2009.  However, one 
of the ICAO advisors indicated that three months is the 
minimum amount of time that the process will require, and 
that it might very well take longer to achieve.  He told us, 
"It is serious.  From what I,ve seen so far, the system 
needs a serious overhaul." 
 
---------------- 
Mission Response 
---------------- 
 
6. (U) In light of the EU ban and other developments, the 
Mission is attempting to minimize the risks associated with 
 
air travel by mission staff and visitors.  Official travel is 
not permitted on all but one of the affected airlines. 
Mission personnel continue to fly on Air Service, one of the 
airlines currently banned by the EU.  Embassy Libreville also 
continues to attempt to monitor the overall safety of civil 
aviation in Gabon, within the severe limits of our expertise 
and resources.  Air Service is the only commercial air 
carrier with flights from Libreville to Sao Tome, a country 
to which we are accredited (and home to both resident USG 
personnel and significant local and TDY staff).  We note that 
no U.S. government agency "bans" foreign carriers or 
otherwise grades their safety if those carriers do not fly to 
the United States, and that responsibility for direct mission 
personnel to use or not use specific airlines rests with the 
Chief of Mission. 
 
7. (U) In evaluating whether or not to continue using Air 
Service despite the EU ban, we interviewed the airline's 
deputy general manager, Arthur Bongo Ondimba, the son of 
Gabon's president El Hajj Omar Bongo Ondimba (and also a 
pilot).  We also interviewed the company's chief of 
maintenance, an American citizen.  Both asserted that Air 
Service meets or exceeds international maintenance and safety 
standards, and claimed the airline is being penalized for the 
shortcomings of Gabon's civil aviation regulatory regime. 
Both pointed out that Royal Dutch Shell, a company with 
extensive operations in Gabon, carries out independent safety 
inspections and continues to make extensive use of Air 
Service aircraft, for both regularly scheduled and charter 
flights.  The Embassy confirmed independently that Shell and 
other international oil firms remain major customers for Air 
Service.  Against this positive evidence we weighed negative 
reports, both direct and second-hand, from former Air Service 
employees questioning the airline's safety.  Finally, we 
sought an evaluation by one of the visiting ICAO technical 
advisors.  He declined to comment on the safety of Air 
Service or any of the other banned airlines, saying he and 
his team needed more time and information to make a sound 
judgment. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
8. (SBU) Gabon clearly needs, and does not yet have, a 
competent and independent civil aviation authority.  Some of 
the steps Gabon has taken in response to the EU ban, 
particularly the invitation and funding of the ICAO technical 
assistance mission, are encouraging.  We will continue to 
monitor the situation, encourage the government to take the 
necessary steps to correct deficiencies, and scrutinize 
closely the airlines used by mission personnel for official 
travel.  In the absence of authoritative guidance from the 
FAA or other competent U.S. government agency, however, we 
will be far more comfortable if and when the EU ban is 
lifted.  END COMMENT. 
REDDICK