Relatives of the Flash jet's Eygptian crew have been mourning their loss

Campaigners hope the tragedy, in which 148 people died, will spur governments to go public with information about bans imposed on airlines in EU states.

On Thursday the UK broke with tradition by naming airlines it has grounded.

Switzerland only revealed a 2002 ban on Flash, the airline in the Red Sea crash, after disaster struck.

The Flash airlines tragedy can provide the impetus for renewed efforts to make progress on aviation safety in the EU Belgian MEP Nelly Maes

Most of those who died in the Red Sea disaster were French tourists returning from Sharm el-Sheikh, who would have been unaware of the problems found with the aircraft in Switzerland the year before.

A BBC News Online investigation has found that six airlines, including Flash, had aircraft grounded on safety grounds in one of three European countries in 2002.

The only information available about bans imposed in 2003 comes from the UK Government, which banned three passenger airlines from Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo on safety grounds.

Another airline from Bosnia, as well as two cargo airlines from Estonia and Latvia, had permits temporarily withdrawn.

Support for UK

The European Parliament's rapporteur on the safety of foreign aircraft, Belgian MEP Nelly Maes, said she would call for more transparency in Monday's debate.

The aircraft which crashed had been banned from Swiss airspace

"As a matter of urgency, the [European] Commission should establish a system of naming foreign airlines that are banned from flying in one or more EU countries so that passengers can make an informed choice," she said on Friday.

"Just as the Prestige oil tanker disaster helped to focus minds on the need to improve maritime safety, so the Flash airlines tragedy can provide the impetus for renewed efforts to make progress on aviation safety in the EU."

The chairman of the parliament's transport committee, Italian MEP Paolo Costa, told BBC News Online that the UK's naming of airlines it had banned was exactly what the parliament wanted to do at a European level.

"It is good news, but it would be much better news if everybody would agree to do it," he said.

In October, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of a directive that would oblige the European Commission to publish an annual report naming airlines associated with an increased safety risk.

Parliament v governments

Some MEPs would like aircraft banned from one country to be banned from all.

If they have been banned from one country I assume they should be banned from others Italian MEP Paolo Costa

"It is less effective if everybody is trying to say Yes or No to airlines country-by-country because by definition these airlines fly from everywhere to everywhere," said Mr Costa.

"If they have been banned from one country I assume they should be banned from others."

European governments have rejected the directive in the form it was approved by the parliament, so a process of conciliation will begin on 20 January in an attempt to reach a compromise.

Under current regulations, the 41 member states of the European Civil Aviation Conference share information about safety checks carried out on foreign aircraft, but do not publish it.

European Parliament sources say that the Council of Ministers - which groups together the governments of member states - objects to the amount of information that would be made public under the directive.

You would place information in the hands of the general public, which is not able to judge properly ECAC executive secretary Raymond Benjamin

The UK Government refused this week to name airlines banned or restricted in Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands in 2002 even though two were still flying to the UK in 2003.

"As no major problems were revealed concerning these [two] airlines in subsequent inspections we do not feel it is appropriate to identify them," a Department of Transport spokeswoman said.

Panic fear

ECAC executive secretary Raymond Benjamin said publishing results of safety checks would create "a kind of panic".

"You would place information in the hands of the general public, which - however respectable it may be - is not able to judge properly," he said.

Nelly Maes said she hoped EU member states - whose permanent representatives to the EU meet are due to meet on Wednesday - realised they could not "deny the right of consumers, travellers and citizens to know the safety record" of the companies they travelled with.