JAKARTA – The Indonesia government has moved to appease European Union aviation regulators by passing a bill that enforces stricter safety requirements on airlines, especially newcomers.
Legislators have rushed the deliberations over the past six months to encourage the EU to lift its ban on Indonesian airliners in European airspace, implemented in 2007.
“We will soon translate this law (into English) and pass it on to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),†transportation minister Jusman Syafii Djamal told the Jakarta Post.
“If the ICAO approves our standards, the EU will have no reason to ban us, except on a discriminatory basis.â€
The ban came into effect after a string of aviation accidents in Indonesia, the deadliest being the crash of an Adam Air jet in early 2007 that killed all 102 people on board.
The new law entails more elaborate safety and flight-worthy standards.
“If an airliner is not airworthy, the government may impose sanctions upon the airline and its personnel,†Jusman said.
However, the law falls short of improving the quality and independence of air safety watchdog, the Air Safety Certification Directorate (DSKU), which is still under the auspices of the Transportation Ministry, albeit with its own funding authority.
The EU has repeatedly requested the government make the country’s air safety watchdog independent
