Two airlines banned from one country in Europe have still been flying in the UK

Tory MP David Wilshire has tabled a written parliamentary question demanding the names be made public.

The department of transport has previously said it did not need to name the airlines, as they had passed tests.

The news follows the Flash Airline crash in Egypt, which killed its 133 mainly French passengers, and the revelation the Swiss had banned Flash.

After the crash, the UK agreed to name airlines banned in its own airspace.

They included all aircraft operated by airlines from Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia and Tajikistan.

The others on the blacklist were Sierra Leone's Star Air and Air Universal, Cameroon Airlines, Albanian Airlines and Central Air Express, from DR Congo.

Banned airlines Star Air (Sierra Leone) Air Universal (Sierra Leone) Cameroon Airlines Albanian Airlines Central Air Express (DR Congo) Airline transparency urged

But at the same time it emerged that two anonymous airlines banned by at least one other country in 2002 were still operating in the UK in 2003 and possibly beyond.

The two airlines are believed to be summer holiday charter companies, but the Department of Transport said it would not name them.

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

Mr Wilshire is now demanding to know "where, when and why these bans operated".

'Right to know'

He said: "If a government bans an airline from its airspace it has to have a good reason.

"And we have a right to know whether it is sensible to get on an aircraft."

The European Parliament is to hold an emergency debate on air safety on Monday, in the wake of the Red Sea crash.

Some MEPs hope the tragedy will spur governments to follow the UK's example and go public with any bans they have imposed.

Belgian MEP Nelly Maes said she hoped EU member states would realise they could not "deny the right of consumers, travellers and citizens to know the safety record" of the companies they travelled with.