Europe to officially lift flight ban in 20 days

Saturday, 4 July 2009

The Jakarta Post

The Indonesian aviation industry is heaving a huge sigh of relief, after the European Commission hinted it would lift the flight ban on four of the country’s airlines, although the official announcement will only be issued in the next 20 days.

Indonesian Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal made the announcement Friday during a visit to Bandung. He said he had received a call from the Indonesian ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU, Najib Rifat Kesoema, that the envoy had been called for a meeting by the EC’s air safety unit.

During that meeting, Jusman went on, the commission expressed its satisfaction with the progress made by the government and local airlines in improving flight safety in the past two years.

“[The European Commission] has seen the possibility of recommending the lifting of the flight ban,” the minister said after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding between upstream oil and gas regulator BP Migas and national aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia.

Jusman acknowledged the official announcement on the lifting would only be official pending approval from the EU parliament, and that the decision needed to be translated into 22 languages.

“It will be officially announced in the next 20 days,” he said.

The four affected airlines are state-owned Garuda Indonesia, Mandala Airlines, Airfast Indonesia and Prime Air.

The Foreign Ministry confirmed the news, with spokesman Teuku Faizasyah saying it had  received a recommendation letter to lift the flight ban against the four airlines.

“The ban will soon be lifted,” he said in Jakarta, adding the decision would help improve the tarnished image of the Indonesian aviation industry.

Since July 2007, the EC has banned all Indonesian airlines from flying into EU airspace, in response to the country’s poor safety record marked by a litany of air accidents. The deadliest of these was the crash of an Adam Air jet in early 2007 that killed all 102 people on board.

The number of accidents and fatalities did not include those killed in military aircraft accidents in the past six months.

 The government has been trying to improve the national aviation regulatory system and safety standards to get the commission to lift the ban. Indonesia has also tried to comply with the remaining 10 of 60 flight safety requirements set out by the EC before the ban can actually be lifted.