Indonesia to Amend Law, Boost Plane Safety Checks After EU Ban

By Arijit Ghosh and Woro Widya Utami

July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia will amend a law on aircraft inspections and increase the number of required safety checks to enable PT Garuda Indonesia and other carriers to get approval to fly to Europe.

Indonesia expects parliament to enact a law to allow inspectors direct authority to ground planes, Bambang Ervan, a spokesman at the Ministry of Transport told reporters in Jakarta today. The nation will also have to satisfy 120 more conditions to get back European flying rights, said Pierre Philippe, who heads the European Commission in Indonesia.

Indonesia has conducted only 16 percent of the required inspections on Garuda, according to the EU. The country had 3.77 fatal accidents for every 1 million takeoffs in the three years to March 2007 compared with a global rate was 0.25. The Indonesian government says the ban since June 2007 is hindering tourism and economic relations with Europe.

``It's really in the hands of the government to move fast,'' Philippe said. ``Our objective is to lift the ban as soon as possible, but it doesn't depend on us.'' The EU yesterday kept all Indonesian carriers on the list that bans them from operating in Europe, with the so-called `blacklist.' No Indonesian carrier flies to Europe.

Indonesia has just 30 inspectors to conduct checks on the nation's 30 carriers flying to 205 airports in the world's largest archipelago, said Jean-Pierre Ambrosini, coordinator for the Indonesian-EU Partnership for Aviation Safety. The country needs at least 100 inspectors, he said.

``The government will fulfill all the measures required,'' by the International Civil Aviation Organization, Ervan said. According to the current law, inspectors need the transport minister's permission to ground an aircraft, said Philippe.

Garuda had an accident on March 7, 2007, that killed 21 people. Its plane was flown at an excessive speed and at a steep angle when landed at Adi Sucipto airport in Yogyakarta. A PT Adam Skyconnection Airlines' plane vanished off the coast of South Sulawesi on Jan. 1, 2007, with 102 people on board. Its data recorders were found eight months later.