JAKARTA: The United States has warned its citizens against flying on Indonesian airlines, claiming the country’s civil aviation authority did not meet minimum international safety standards.
Several accidents this year forced Indonesia authorities to review airline safety standards and several airlines are still on notice that they will be grounded unless standards improve.
The assessment by the Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation examined the performance of the airlines against 20 criteria, adapted from those applied by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and allocated points for compliance with standards.
Based on the total number of points the airlines were placed in one of three categories.
Airlines, including Garuda Indonesia and Indonesia Air Asia were placed in Category 2, which indicated they had met minimal requirements of civil aviation safety regulations but some requirements have not been implemented
In Category 3 – airlines whose safety levels were possibly not up to scratch – were Batavia Air, Adam Air, Kartika Airlines, Trans Wisata Air, Jatayu Airlines and Dirgantara Air Service.
The Category 3 airlines have been put on safety watch and time is running out for them to
“Whenever possible, Americans traveling to and from Indonesia should fly directly to their destinations on international carriers,” the US Embassy in Jakarta said in a statement on its web site.
It noted that the US Federal Aviation Administration lowered its aviation safety rating for Indonesia from Category 1 to 2 – the lowest – “due to serious concerns” about safety oversight and operational control systems.
