ANKARA - European countries that prohibited flights by Turkish budget airline Onur Air have agreed in principle to lift their bans, Turkish Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said Tuesday.
"We reached an agreement in principle regarding the bans on Onur Air," Yildirim told Anatolia news agency on the sidelines of a meeting of transportation ministers in Moscow.
He said the agreement had come following a meeting with counterparts from Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, three of the countries along with France that had banned the Turkish low-cost carrier for security deficiencies.
An official declaration would be made later Tuesday in the Russian capital, Yildirim said.
A Dutch public relations firm had said earlier that the ban had been lifted, but a spokesman for the country`s transport ministry termed the announcement "a bit premature".
The Netherlands imposed a ban on Onur Air on May 12, citing "serious safety deficiencies" with respect to aircraft, operational procedures and aircraft handling.
The decision prompted France, Germany, and Switzerland to follow suit and declare their territories off-limits to Onur Air. The ban has affected nearly 40,000 passengers, according to the company.
Onur Air denounced the ban as "unjust" and slammed it as a move intended to reduce its share of the European market. It has threatend to sue the Dutch state.
The Turkish airline depends heavily on its charter business to Germany and the Netherlands, which have sizable communities of Turkish immigrant workers.
Last year Onur Air, which employs 900 employees and operates 26 aircraft, reported sales of 450 million dollars (354.2 million euros).
On Monday, representatives of the airline presented a plan to reinforce internal controls, during a meeting of air safety officials in Hoofddorp, near Amsterdam`s Schiphol airport.
05/24/2005 17:35 GMT