JEDDAH, 4 August 2007 — Saudi Arabia has withdrawn its proposal to ban Garuda Indonesia from its airspace on safety considerations.
The European Union recently barred 51 airlines certified in Indonesia from European airspace, citing safety worries.
Last month, Indonesia’s Transport Ministry received a letter from Saudi Arabia’s General Authority on Civil Aviation warning of a possible ban since the body normally followed EU aviation policy.
The Kingdom since announced its stand that the ban plan had been put off pending the visit of a team of experts to Jakarta for a review and inspection of its facilities and operations.
Garuda Indonesia’s Jeddah-based General Manager for Saudi Arabia and Middle East Muhammad Helmy, who is currently in Jakarta, told Arab News on the phone that a six-member team of experts of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) was in the Indonesian capital from last week and had inspected all of Garuda’s facilities, operations and training centers.
“The team has expressed its satisfaction over the safety norms and arrangements undertaken by the airline,” he said. “Garuda has satisfactorily met all the standards,” Helmy said quoting a Saudi team member. “With the clean audit result, Saudi Arabia has dropped its plan to ban the Indonesian airline from flying there.”
The Saudi team is represented by Capt. Mohammed R. Berenje, vice president, safety and economic regulations, and accompanied by Babang Sudaryono, Jeddah-based communication attache at the Consulate General of Indonesia.
“Saudi Arabia will not ban or restrict Garuda from flying to that country, whether regular or Haj flights,” Indonesian Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal told the media in Jakarta yesterday.
“Saudi Arabia had said that it might ban Indonesian flights to the country as it normally follows the aviation standards applied by the European Union. The EU has banned all Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe due to their failure to comply with the union’s safety procedures effective July 6,” he said.
The US Federal Aviation Authority decided in April to downgrade Indonesia’s safety rating that amounted to a ‘de facto’ ban. No Indonesia carriers currently fly to either Europe or the United States. The ban came in the wake of two major air disasters in the Asian archipelago since the beginning of the year.
Garuda operates eight flights a week from Jakarta to Jeddah, three of them via Riyadh. It has planned up to 60 extra flights between June and September to transport Umrah pilgrims who total 100,000 a year. The carrier is planning to bring 210,000 Haj pilgrims this year. Over 200,000 others, a majority of them housemaids, travel to the Kingdom every year for work.
After years in the red, Garuda has turned to profit in the first half of this year on the back of an increase in passenger numbers and higher fares, coupled with its efficiency program. The airline has posted a net profit of $15.93 million in the first half of this year.
According to Garuda Executive Vice President Agus Priyanto, the airline’s revenues are expected to further increase in the second half as more passengers take to the air during the year-end holiday season.
