By Arno Maierbrugger
Gulf Times Correspondent
Bangkok

More than 60 airlines in Indonesia, or 92% of all registered airlines in the country, are deemed to have safety issues as per international aviation safety standards and therefore remain blacklisted on the updated EU Air Safety List released by the European Aviation Safety Agency on December 10.
This factually bans these carriers from entering EU airspace. The only airlines not affected by the ban are national carrier Garuda Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, a charter operator for the oil and gas industry, Premiair, a business jet operator, as well as Indonesia Air Asia, the Indonesian unit of Malaysia-headquartered AirAsia, Southeast Asia’s largest low-budget airline.
Indonesia, a huge country that spans over some 18,000 islands and counts a population of 250mn people, has a large number of domestic airlines to provide much-required quick connectivity. However, maintenance and safety checks are sometimes not fully regarded, observers note. Among the better-known carriers deemed unsafe are the country’s largest low-budget airline Lion Air, its subsidiary Batik Air, regional airline Citilink, the low-cost subsidiary of national carrier Garuda, as well as and Indonesia AirAsia X, the long-haul unit of Indonesia Air Asia.
Both Lion Air and Indonesia AirAsia have regular flights to the Middle East, namely to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and Citilink has a seasonal haj charter to there. However, none of the blacklisted airlines ever flew to destinations in Europe before. The verdict by the EU aviation safety watchdog is still better than in 2007 when every single Indonesian airline was banned, including Garuda and Indonesia AirAsia. In 2010, they were both removed from the blacklist as internal EU documents confirmed that they now meet “applicable safety standards.”
Airlines in Thailand, some of which feared to be included in the EU blacklist after the country’s aviation safety was downgraded by the US Federal Aviation Administration one week before the EU list was released, were spared by the EU inspectors to the great relieve of the country’s tourism industry. However, the EU issued a “special warning” over travelling on airlines registered in Thailand, and the country’s aviation safety body has been given some more time to bring its safety procedures in order.
Altogether, the updated EU Air Safety List includes a total of 228 airlines certified in 20 states which have been identified to suffer from a “lack of safety oversight by their national aviation authorities” or, in the worst case, are surrounded by a total lack of information and “might be operating on the border of, or altogether outside, the recognised international aviation regime,” the EU stated.
The countries are – apart from Indonesia – Afghanistan, Angola, Benin, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Libya, Mozambique, Nepal, Sao Tome and Pr?ncipe, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Zambia. Additionally, the list includes two individual airlines, Baghdad-based Iraqi Airways and Blue Wing Airlines from Surinam, bringing the overall total of airlines banned from EU skies to 230. The list further includes seven more airlines which can only fly to the EU with specific aircraft types: Afrijet and SN2AG, both from Gabon, Air Koryo, the national airline of North Korea, Air Service Comores, Iran Air, TAAG Angolan Airlines and Air Madagascar.