Bulgaria's civil aviation authorities have stripped of licence four local cargo airlines, the transport ministry announced on Thursday.

Air Sofia, Bright Aviation Services, Skorpion Air and Vega Airlines, which were blacklisted for flights in EU airspace in February as a precautionary measure, no longer have the right to service flights.

The fifth blacklisted company Heli Air is allowed to operate but only in areas outside the European Union.

The decision for stripping the companies of licence came in the wake of the review that experts from the European Aviation Safety Agency carried out in May. The experts argued that there are substantial lapses in the area of aviation safety.

Representatives from the five companies had estimated the costs of upgrading each AN-12 cargo plane used by the companies at USD 150.000-180.000.

The grave problems in Bulgaria's aviation struck out in December last year when the European Commission decided to invoke a safeguard clause over "grave deficiencies" in safety procedures. The safeguard clause excluded Bulgarian air carriers from the benefit of being considered a "Community carrier".

The EU's air space includes all member states, but also Switzerland, Iceland and Norway, countries that are not part of the bloc.

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