The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (BAZL) has enforced the European Union’s latest Air-Safety List, published at the end of June, which immediately bans six additional airlines from Swiss airspace, Blick reported on 7 July. Newly black-listed is Algeria’s Air Express Algeria, joined by Air Zimbabwe, Avior Airlines (Venezuela), Iran Aseman Airlines and Iraqi carriers Fly Baghdad and Iraqi Airways. All 154 airlines on the list are barred from take-offs and landings at airports such as Zurich, Geneva, Basel-Mulhouse and Bern-Belp. Switzerland, though not an EU member, incorporates the Air-Safety List into domestic law under the bilateral Aviation Agreement. BAZL supplements the EU’s assessments with its own spot inspections; inspectors conducted 395 ramp checks in 2025 and intend to surpass that figure this year. The regulator reminded tour operators that it is their responsibility to rebook passengers and freight onto compliant carriers. Corporate travel managers should verify that travel-booking tools and agency partners have blocked the six airlines to avoid inadvertent ticketing. Firms with operations in North Africa, the Middle East or Southern Africa may need to reroute staff via alternative hubs such as Istanbul or Doha, potentially adding cost and travel time.
![Switzerland adopts updated EU Air-Safety List, grounding six more foreign carriers]()
To minimise disruption, travellers rerouted through unfamiliar stop-overs will also need to double-check transit-visa rules; destination and layover entry requirements can change as quickly as safety blacklists. VisaHQ’s Switzerland portal can streamline that process by flagging the latest visa or eTA obligations and processing applications online for more than 200 jurisdictions, giving corporate travel teams a single dashboard even when flight paths suddenly shift.
Cargo forwarders moving oil-and-gas equipment between Switzerland and Algeria face similar rerouting challenges. While the blacklist is mostly associated with developing-world carriers, there is also good news: all airlines from Kyrgyzstan were removed following significant safety-oversight improvements. Mobility planners who rely on the Bishkek-based hub now regain a direct route option for Central-Asian assignees. BAZL emphasises that airlines can be removed from—or added to—the list at any time. The agency encourages multinationals to subscribe to its «Aviation Safety Information» newsletter to receive real-time updates that can be fed into travel-risk-management platforms.
To minimise disruption, travellers rerouted through unfamiliar stop-overs will also need to double-check transit-visa rules; destination and layover entry requirements can change as quickly as safety blacklists. VisaHQ’s Switzerland portal can streamline that process by flagging the latest visa or eTA obligations and processing applications online for more than 200 jurisdictions, giving corporate travel teams a single dashboard even when flight paths suddenly shift.
Cargo forwarders moving oil-and-gas equipment between Switzerland and Algeria face similar rerouting challenges. While the blacklist is mostly associated with developing-world carriers, there is also good news: all airlines from Kyrgyzstan were removed following significant safety-oversight improvements. Mobility planners who rely on the Bishkek-based hub now regain a direct route option for Central-Asian assignees. BAZL emphasises that airlines can be removed from—or added to—the list at any time. The agency encourages multinationals to subscribe to its «Aviation Safety Information» newsletter to receive real-time updates that can be fed into travel-risk-management platforms.
