Netherlands, Germany put the brakes on Onur Air

Onur Air has been banned from flying into or out of the Netherlands and Germany for the next month because of repeated safety lapses. On Thursday, the Dutch Transportation Ministry's Traffic and Waterways Inspection confirmed it was withdrawing the Turkish airline's landing rights with immediate effect until June 12 after an aborted takeoff of a flight from Antalya to Amsterdam Schiphol. Germany's civil aviation authority last week revoked the carrier's permission to take off and land effective immediately, citing unspecified safety concerns. The airline operates to 11 airports in Germany. Onur Air said the Dutch move was aimed at eliminating Turkish companies from the Dutch market. It operates a fleet of 24 aircraft and transports about 1.4 million passengers a year, including 350,000 from the Netherlands. It offers 300 flights a week to Europe, of which 75 are to the Netherlands. In April, the IVW also banned Phuket Air from Dutch airspace and recently it put Fly-Air, another Turkish leisure carrier, under intensified surveillance.