By Sheila Barter BBC News Online

Two airlines banned or restricted in at least one European country in 2002 were still flying from the UK in 2003, BBC News Online has learned.

But the names of the airlines are being kept secret, amid international confusion on confidentiality rules.

Families of the victims are to attend memorial ceremonies on Thursday

It means passengers boarding aircraft in the UK this year will be unaware if the airlines are banned from flying elsewhere in Europe.

The revelation from the UK Department of Transport follows a BBC News Online investigation after the crash of the Flash Airlines plane in Egypt on Saturday.

Flash had been banned from Swiss airports and airspace but the passengers had no way of knowing.

The two airlines now revealed to be flying from the UK were among six - including Flash - which suffered a ban or restrictions in 2002 somewhere in Europe.

One of the two underwent a later 2002 inspection in the UK, and no major problems were revealed, a Department of Transport spokeswoman told BBC News Online.

No UK inspection

The second banned airline has not undergone any subsequent UK inspection. However, it has since been tested in six other countries, revealing no major problem, the spokeswoman said.

We are not going to name them UK Department of Transport

The two firms are believed to be summer holiday charter companies.

There is currently no reason why they will not fly from the UK again this year, the spokeswoman said.

The UK insists it will not name the airlines, saying that it remains up to the countries which imposed the measures to do so.

"As no major problems were revealed concerning these airlines in subsequent inspections we do not feel it's appropriate to name them," the spokeswoman added.

It's very worrying... wouldn't you want to know if an airline you were just about to step on had been banned in another country David Wilshire UK opposition MP

But the revelation sparked immediate demands for the airlines to be named.

"It's very worrying," said UK Conservative MP David Wilshire, who has been demanding public access to UK-banned planes.

"If a government has prohibited the use of its airspace by an airline, that implies there is something inherently wrong with the airline," he said.

"And if I was a passenger, I'd like to know if that was the case - I mean, wouldn't you want to know if an airline you were just about to step on had been banned in another country?"

The names of the six restricted companies are not confidential, according to the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), which is in charge of the testing programme.

ECAC says national governments can choose whether to name the airlines, but in practice the names have proved impossible to trace.

UK list promised

HAVE YOUR SAY Safety records are changing all the time, I don't see the point of releasing the information. Tom, Luton, UK Send us your comments

Earlier on Wednesday, UK Transport Secretary Alistair Darling did announce that a list of airlines banned or rejected by the UK in the last three years would be published.

But the five airlines banned elsewhere remain unnamed, as the UK says it is up to the country which took the action to make the details public.

The UK says four of the 2002 bans were imposed in Switzerland, with one each in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Switzerland has confirmed to BBC News Online that 23 planes are currently banned, but says confidentiality laws and a "gentlemen's" agreement prevent it from naming the airlines involved, or even confirming how many of them there are.

We must ban from our airspace planes that are not in perfect condition Paolo Costa European Parliament transport committee chairman

A 24th plane was banned - the downed Flash Boeing 737.

Belgium has not commented on its 2002 case, and the Netherlands has denied banning or restricting a company that year.

The BBC's inquiries have revealed that the same Flash plane which plunged into the Red Sea on Saturday failed a Swiss safety test in October 2002 but passed a French one in Toulouse in 2003.

No details of the number of bans or restrictions imposed last year are available, as the ECAC report for 2003 has yet to be published.

Campaigners

European MPs who were already campaigning for public access to airline safety records say the crash has brought the issue into even sharper focus than before.

"We must ban from our airspace planes that are not in perfect condition," said Paolo Costa, the Italian chairman of the European Parliament's transport committee.

Member states should "act as fast as possible" to implement long-delayed proposals tightening EU rules, he added.

Flash Airlines insist they were unfairly banned by the Swiss, and say their planes were in good order.