Garuda seeks lifting of EU ban

JAKARTA, Oct 24

Indonesia's national carrier Garuda said on Wednesday it
would appeal to the European Union to be taken off the list
of banned airlines because it complies with international
safety regulations.

Indonesia's transport sector has been hit by several
disasters, prompting the EU to ban all 51 Indonesian
airlines, including Garuda, from its airspace because of
safety concerns.

In March, a Garuda aircraft crashed at Yogyakarta airport in
Java, killing 21 people, including Indonesians and
Australians. The pilot of the plane ignored 15 warnings as
he descended too rapidly, a transport safety committee
report said on Monday.

Emirsyah Satar, Garuda's chief executive, told Reuters in an
interview that the pilot and co-pilot of the plane that
crashed are still grounded and receiving their pay, but the
airline needs to do "a thorough review" of their position.

"Garuda has all the systems and procedures in place," Satar
said, adding "somehow it was not being executed or complied
to" when the plane crashed in Yogyakarta.

The EU transport committee will do a site visit in Indonesia
in early November, meeting with the authorities and with
Garuda officials in order to look at the regulators and
regulations, as well as how Garuda manages its safety
measures, he said.

"I think they should take Garuda out of the list of banned
airlines," Satar said, adding the EU is "quite comfortable"
with Garuda because the airline is audited by foreign safety
regulators.

Garuda, which stopped flying to Amsterdam in 2004 because
the route wasn't profitable, now wants to fly to Europe to
benefit from a recovery in tourism.

Satar said Garuda, which reported a loss of 197 billion
rupiah ($21.47 million) in 2006, has returned to profit this
year by focusing on its most profitable routes, which
include Singapore and Perth among the international
destinations, as well as Surabaya and Yogyakarta in Java,
and Denpasar in Bali.
http://www.reuters.com/article/lates.../idUSJAK169386