EU Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said, "Offering the highest level of air safety to European citizens is a priority of the Commission. On Monday we updated the EU's safety rules as part of the Aviation Strategy and today we are updating the EU's Air Safety List. I am satisfied that we were able to clear Air Astana after six years of work. In the interest of European citizens, we are however forced to maintain other Kazakh carriers on the list and to add Iraqi Airways.