EU Prohibits 6 Kazakh Airlines From Airspace

The European Union has banned six Kazakh airlines from its airspace, citing safety reasons, the Guardian reports today. No specific reason was given, though perhaps comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s skit about Borat flying on “Air Kazakh”—a rickety plane with a drunken one-eyed pilot—may have finally hit Brussels. The blacklisting could hurt Kazakhstan’s tourism industry, which boomed after the 2006 release of Cohen’s film. (More airline safety stories.)