Australia says it is satisfied that Garuda is improving………………

With Australia announcing yesterday that it was satisfied with Garuda’s continuing efforts to improve its safety record and would continue to allow the carrier to fly in and out of Australia and report from New Zealand in The Press says that Prime Minister Helen Clark will be flying the same route as a Garuda airliner that crashed this year, with Clark scheduled to fly on Indonesia’s national carrier during her visit to Indonesia next week, with Helen Clark retracing the flight of Australian diplomats and journalists following Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on a flight from the capital Jakarta to Yogyakarta in March.

In April, the United States advised its citizens to avoid flying Indonesian airlines, and the Federal Aviation Authority downgraded Indonesia’s safety oversight from Category 1 to Category 2, citing “serious concerns”.

Also last week, the European Union blacklisted Garuda, meaning it cannot fly into any EU country in addition to advising EU residents not to fly a host of Indonesian carriers if travelling overseas, NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials are understood to be nervous about the flight, but say they have little choice if the Prime Minister is to visit Yogyakarta, 400km to the south of the capital.

They say that of the 200 domestic airlines flying around Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, Garuda is rated among the safest and a spokesman for Clark said she had no concerns about the flight, adding, “This is an internal flight on Indonesia’s national carrier and there are no other options with international carriers.”

Clark usually travels on commercial airlines overseas because the cost of taking a New Zealand Air Force Boeing 757 would be prohibitive.

Garuda has pledged to do whatever is required to upgrade its standards to meet International Civil Aviation Organisation approval, with Peter Harbison, the director of the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation in Sydney, said Garuda was not the world’s worst airline – but not the best, either, adding, “Indonesia’s aviation system is not anywhere near the same level of integrity as ours is in terms of regulatory oversight.”

“The airlines don’t have that same safety culture”.  “But, that said, you’ll travel on a whole lot worse airlines before you die,” Harbison said.

Harbison said Clark was still more at risk travelling to the airport than flying in Indonesia, adding, “She’ll probably get a few Brownie points for travelling with Garuda – and certainly the reverse if she refuses to.”

Clark is visiting Indonesia on her first bilateral trip in five years, and hopes to reinvigorate a relationship with the world’s largest Muslim nation that has cooled in recent years over concerns about terrorism and human rights abuses in East Timor and Papua.

She will discuss counter-terrorism, trade and regional partnerships with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and also visit a New Zealand Aid project in Yogyakara, which suffered a 7.7 magnitude earthquake last year, killing at least 339 people.

Diplomatic Protection Squad (DPS) officers have been in Indonesia ahead of her visit and Clark will also take DPS officers with her.

Report by The Mole