EU legislators promise to help lifting of flight ban

The Jakarta Post, JAKARTA | Wed, 02/25/2009 9:06 AM  

EU parliamentarians  have promised to help lift a ban on Indonesian airlines in European airspace, after lauding improvements in safety. 

During a bilateral meeting with Indonesian legislators here Tuesday, the 18 EU parliamentarians promised to have the ban, in place since 2007, lifted, saying they had noticed many improvements in aviation safety and technical matters. 

“Our aircraft will soon be allowed to flight to Europe again,” Abdillah Toha, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Cooperation, told The Jakarta Post after the meeting. 

Among the EU Parliament members attending the meeting were chairman Hartmut Nassauer from Germany, vice chairwoman Giovanna Corda from Belgium, and development committee member Frithjof Schmidt from Germany. 

However, the visitors did not set a date for the lifting of the ban. 

“They didn’t tell us when, but soon,” Abdillah said. 

Previously, presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said the EU might lift its air travel ban on Indonesian airliners in the middle of this year, while some EU officials have said the ban could be lifted by either March or June 2009. 

During Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s visit last week to the Netherlands to meet with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, Economic Affairs Minister Maria van der Houven, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Verhagen and Finance Minister Wouter Bos, Kalla said the ban would be lifted within two months. 

Indonesia, he added, would comply with the remaining 10 of 60 flight safety requirements set out by the EU before the ban could be lifted. 

Most of the remaining requirements are in the form of implementing regulations linked to the recently enacted new law on aviation, which highlights stricter and tougher air safety compliance, Kalla said. 

High-ranking EU officials have acknowledged the progress Indonesia has made in overhauling its aviation business, pointing to the passage of the aviation law as one of the positive improvements. 

But despite the acknowledgement and frequent promises, it still remains unclear when the ban will be lifted, prompting strong reaction from government officials. 

“We’re disappointed with the protracted ban. We’ve made some improvements, so we do hope these will be taken into consideration,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah.

“The way we see it, the EU has always puts its actions [in terms of] technical issues. But we question if there are political motives behind the decision.” 

However, Abdillah said the EU had clearly banned Indonesian airlines because of technical problems, and not for political reasons. 

“This ban was put in place because of the lack of aviation safety, not because of political problems in Indonesia,” he said. 

The EU imposed the ban in 2007 after a committee of air safety experts expressed concern over a spate of airline accidents in Indonesia at the time and the failure of the local authorities to provide adequate safety assurances. 

The industry’s deregulation in the 1990s led to a spawning of airlines and triggered a string of air accidents, with hundreds of casualties claimed. 

One of the worst accidents was in January 2007, when 102 people were killed on board an Adam Air Boeing 737 that crashed into the sea off Sulawesi. 

Besides discussing the Indonesia aviation sector, the EU parliamentarians also asked about the upcoming elections and recent developments in Aceh. (naf)