Indonesian Airlines Can Fly to the U.S. Again

Jakarta, 12 Dzulqa’dah 1437/15 August 2016 (MINA) – U.S. aviation regulators have upgraded Indonesia’s aviation safety ranking, lifting a nine-year-old bar on Indonesian airlines initiating flights to the U.S., wsj.com quoted authorities here as saying Monday.

Indonesia’s director general of aviation Suprasetyo said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) raised Indonesia’s status to Category 1, after extensively assessing the country’s aviation operations, monitoring and regulations.

Mr. Suprasetyo, who goes by one name, said that the change in status means that any Indonesian airline can now fly to the U.S.

“We should be grateful for all of our hard work and technical help from the U.S. through the FAA,” said Mr. Suprasetyo. “We have fulfilled the international aviation standards.”

The move, which comes on the heels of a recent EU decision to lift a ban on three Indonesian airlines, will boost the expansion plans of the country’s largest carrier, state-owned Garuda Indonesia, as well as the country’s hopes of increasing tourism and becoming a regional travel hub.

The aviation official said that Garuda has already expressed interest in initiating a U.S. route.

The FAA downgraded Indonesia’s safety status in 2007 after a series of airline accidents, including crashes by Garuda and now-defunct Adam Air.

The downgraded status allows airlines to maintain existing services, but not to start new routes to the U.S. No Indonesian airline has flown scheduled routes to the U.S. since Garuda in the late 1990s.

Mohammad Alwi, director of airworthiness and aircraft operations at the Ministry of Transport, said that the FAA carried out two technical reviews and one final audit since September 2012 before upgrading Indonesia’s status. The final audit was done in February and March this year, Mr. Alwi said.

He said Indonesia has answered large numbers of FAA queries—including on aviation legislation, operation regulations, aviation systems and safety oversight functions.

“It wasn’t easy, it was a struggle,” Mr. Alwi said, adding that the ministry is committed to maintaining the new status and improving monitoring. (T/R07/R01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)