KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The European Union on Tuesday banned all Afghan airlines flying to Europe, leaving the country's main private airline scrambling for a way to maintain flights to Germany that are regularly used by international diplomats and business travelers.

The ban, which takes effect Tuesday, expands previously announced restrictions to cover all four of Afghanistan's main airlines. In reality, however, it affects only Safi Airways as two of the carriers do not have a European route and government-run Ariana Afghan Airlines operates its twice-weekly Europe-bound flights through a Turkish company.

"With this update, the previous ban on the operations in the EU of one Afghan carrier (Ariana Afghan Airlines) has been extended to all air carriers certified in Afghanistan due to the safety deficiencies identified in its system to oversee civil aviation and on several carriers," the Brussels-based European Commission said.

The ban came after Afghanistan failed to comply in time with a European Union order to update aviation regulations dating back to 1972 and set up a Civil Aviation Authority, said Nangyalai Qalatwal, a spokesman for the Afghani transportation ministry.

Updated regulations were approved two weeks ago and an Aviation Authority was set up six months ago, though it is still working on formally registering all Afghan airlines, he said.

It was not clear how soon the ban would be up for review.

One of the banned airlines — Kam Air — tried to launch a route to Vienna, but was blocked by Afghan authorities because of concerns about its planes' condition, said Qalatwal.

The move places Safi in a difficult position. The airline, which flies to Frankfurt five times a week, is favored by Western diplomats and businessmen.

Safi said it will continue flying the route with "wet-leased aircraft" — planes that that are leased at an hourly rate along with a complete crew, maintenance and insurance. The European Commission allows companies to continue operating if they wet-lease planes from an airline that is not banned and if safety standards are met.

"The temporary solution comes at a high cost," Safi said in a statement, adding that such a move would cost it about $500,000 a month. Safi said its fleet has regularly passed safety inspections in Germany.

Safi said it is also hoping to buy a European carrier, which would allow it to register in Europe.

"By reregistering its fleet, Safi can again operate into European airspace and will not be restricted by the blacklisting of Afghanistan based airlines," the carrier said.

The updated EU blacklist includes 276 carriers — mostly cargo companies — certified in 19 nations, with many of them in Africa. Others are in Indonesia, the Caucasus, the Philippines, Cambodia and Surinam.

____

Associated Press writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul and Robert Wielaard in Brussels contributed to this report.

____

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/list_en.htm