BNW

B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News

European Airlines Seek Aid for Terror Insurance Coverage Airline insurance experts meeting here next month are expected to seek help finding insurance against terrorism risks, a European Commission spokesman said Thursday. A group of 25 experts were to meet in late September, following their meeting in July when it "didn't have hard enough information," the spokesman said. "It needs to assess the situation again at the end of the month of September," he added. According to industry sources, insurance companies no longer want to cover risks linked to the use of an airplane in a nuclear, chemical or biological attack on a populated area. The Association of European Airlines said Wednesday that it had informed the commission, the European Union's executive arm, and the 25 EU member states of the situation. "The airlines are going to continue to work with the commission and the states to lessen the impact of the pullback by private insurers," AEA's Giancarlo Crivellaro told AFP. German carrier Lufthansa warned this week of a potential global meltdown of air traffic if the coverage is withdrawn. Lufthansa's executive in charge of insurance, Ralf Oelssner, said in Tuesday's edition of the Financial Times Deutchsland: "Without government liability, there is a possibility that air traffic will be grounded if insurers go ahead and cancel their terrorism coverage." In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, EU member states accepted the responsibility of insurance coverage for risks linked to the use of an aircraft as a terrorist weapon. After about a year, the EU states ended the state guarantees and airlines were forced to return to the private insurance sector, where premiums had soared. According to an AEA report, the premiums paid by European airline companies for the risk of war and terrorism in 2003 quadrupled to 400 million euros (483.9 million dollars) from 80 million in 2001. Text and Picture Copyright (c) 2004 AFP. All other copyright (c) 2004 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable. Who Are We ? | About THISDAYOnLine.com | THISDAY People | Contact Us © Copyright 2000 Leaders & Company Limited

	BNW News
Voice of Biafra | Biafra World | Biafra Online | Biafra Web | MASSOB | Biafra Forum | BLM | Biafra Consortium
	© 2001 BNW BiafraNigeriaWorld  Privacy Policy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Powered by ACENetwork ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Axiom PSI Yam Festival Series, Iri Ji Nd'Igbo the Kola-Nut Series,Nigeria Masterweb