Indonesia relieved as EU flight ban lifted

(JAKARTA) - Indonesia, hoping for an upturn in European tourism, welcomed Wednesday the EU's decision to remove four Indonesian airlines including crash-blighted Garuda Airlines from its aviation blacklist.

Once reeling from a spate of deadly accidents, flag-carrier Garuda said it planned to resume flights to Europe as early as next year, and is also eyeing the lucrative US market.

The European Union's executive commission announced Tuesday that Indonesia had achieved "significant improvements" in safety since all Indonesian-registered aircraft were banned from EU airspace in June 2007.

"This is the fruit of our labour. We appreciate the passion, trust and technical cooperation which has been shown by the European Union safety unit," Transport Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal told reporters.

"This was not an easy journey."

Djamal said EU tourists thinking about coming to Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago that contains vacation hotspots such as Bali and Lombok, could have "no doubt" about the safety of the country's airlines.

The European Commission said Garuda Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, Mandala Airlines and Premiair "can be taken off the list because their authority ensures that they respect the international safety standards."

None of the airlines currently flies to Europe. But Garuda spokesman Pujobroto said the carrier plans to resume flights to the Netherlands, Indonesia's former colonial power, next year.

"We plan to re-open routes to Europe. In the first half of 2010, we may serve a route to Amsterdam. The next could be Frankfurt and London," said Pujobroto, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

"The last time we served routes to Europe was in 2004," he said.

The airline also wants to inaugurate services to the United States, and plans to double its fleet to 116 aircraft in the next five years, including larger Boeing 777s and Airbus 330-200s, the spokesman added.

Tourism ministry official Jordi Paliama said the EU's move would encourage Europeans to holiday in Indonesia.

"The lifting of the ban automatically increases people's trust in Indonesian airlines. It will automatically boost the number of incoming tourists from Europe," he told AFP.

The EU ban was enacted on the basis of a report from the International Civil Aviation Organization following a string of crashes which killed more than 100 people in Indonesia.

The country introduced new air safety regulations last year, incorporating international standards including the creation of a safety committee answerable to the president.

Violators face tougher penalties up to five years' jail and fines up to 500 million rupiah (46,000 dollars).

Djamal said other improvements had been made in airline staff numbers and training, as well as investments in equipment.

The flight ban had angered Indonesia and complicated talks between the huge mainly Muslim country and Brussels over a partnership agreement.

The agreement, signed Tuesday in Yogyakarta, commits Indonesia and the EU to "a more comprehensive partnership" in air transport, trade and investment.

"I'd say the pebble in the shoe in our relationship with the European Union has been removed and we hope to forge better ties in future," said the foreign ministry's Europe chief, Retno Marsudi.

Despite its poor safety record and the global economic downturn which has savaged the airline industry, Garuda posted a 10-fold increase in profits last year thanks to increased revenue and passenger numbers.

The company's net profit for 2008 surged to 670 billion rupiah (60.97 million dollars) from 60 billion rupiah the year before.

List of airlines banned within the EU