With the removal of all Indonesian airlines from the European Union’s aviation safety blacklist last Thursday, all certified airlines in Indonesia can fly again to the 28 EU member states.
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Good news comes from the civil aviation world after the European Union allowed all Indonesian airlines to operate again in the region.
With the removal of all Indonesian airlines from the European Union’s aviation safety blacklist last Thursday, all certified airlines in Indonesia can fly again to the 28 EU member states.
According to a media statement, the EU considers Indonesia to have made “further improvements to the aviation safety situation that was ascertained in the country".
All Indonesian airlines had been included in the EU Air Safety List in 2007 because they failed to meet a number of airline safety criteria.
That same year, an accident of national airline Garuda Indonesia at Adisutjipto Airport in Yogyakarta killed 21 of 140 passengers, including foreign citizens. Moreover, there were findings that aircraft maintenance at a number of airlines was substandard, and local aviation authorities were deemed incapable of resolving the matter. In the same year, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also banned Indonesian airlines from operating the US.
Several years later, Garuda Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, Ekspres Transportasi Antarbenua, Citilink, Indonesia Air Asia, Lion Air and Batik Air were allowed to operate again in the EU.
The lifting of the ban on operating in the EU region for all Indonesian airlines is of significant meaning for the national interest. Besides showing that Indonesia is capable of and committed to meeting international aviation safety standards, there are economic benefits from the lifting of the ban at a time when the government is keen to boost revenue from tourism.
The result of the hard work of the government, airlines and aviation authorities to meet the international aviation safety standards also presents a challenge for all aviation stakeholders.
For example, the number of European tourists to Indonesia in the period of January-April 2018 rose only 2.39 percent from the same period last year. The lifting of the ban on Indonesian airlines in the EU is an opportunity to increase European tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings.
The opportunity will be realized only if we are ready to serve routes to and from the EU, with competitive services and fares. Our national airline, Garuda Indonesia, has served the Jakarta-Amsterdam and Jakarta-London routes back and forth as well as other cities in the EU through cooperation with foreign airlines.
The government, through the Transportation Ministry, can facilitate our airlines to take advantage of this opportunity. The EU is a favorite destination of Indonesian tourists, and the number of Indonesians traveling to the EU increases from year to year. They would prefer to use Indonesian airlines if we are ready to compete in the highly competitive global aviation market.