On Sep. 11, the European Commission confirmed that it had banned Iran's Mahan Air and Ukraine's Ukrainian-Mediterranean Airlines from flying to the 27-nation European Union because of safety concerns.

The Commission added the airlines to the EU blacklist ahead of its regular quarterly update after several EU nations reported safety concerns about the two carriers.

The Commission, executive arm of the EU, said it had questioned the airlines and "the respective national civil aviation authorities responsible for their supervision".