Kingdom to Review Garuda Flight Safety (Arab News)

K.S. Ramkumar (JEDDAH, 18 July 2007)
Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are in talks to stave off a ban on Garuda flights to the Kingdom.

A team of experts from the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) will visit Jakarta for talks with Indonesian officials and spot inspection of safety measures and records of Garuda Indonesia, the national airline of the world’s most populous Muslim country.

An Indonesian team held a meeting with GACA officials at its office here yesterday. It was decided at the meeting that no decision will be taken about a possible ban on Garuda flights until the Saudi team of experts reports back.

The Indonesian team held the meeting following a letter sent by GACA to its counterpart in Indonesia, which extended an invitation to an aviation team to visit Jakarta. At yesterday’s talks, GACA was represented by Capt. Mohammed R. Berenje, vice president, safety and economic regulations; Ahmed El Goueli, avionics airworthiness engineer, International Civil Aviation Organization Technical Cooperation Mission; and Mashhair A. Al-Blowi, airworthiness engineer and inspector, aviation standards and safety.

“Our invitation has been accepted and it should take place within three weeks,” M. Helmy, general manager of Garuda Indonesia for Saudi Arabia and Middle East, told Arab News.
“This shows that Saudi Arabia has so far not banned the Indonesian airline from flying in its airspace but expressed willingness to meet Indonesian civil aviation authorities about the European Union’s prohibition,” Babang Sudaryono, communication attaché at the Consulate General of Indonesia, said.

The EU ban on the Indonesian carrier came into effect on July 6, which followed a move in April by the US Federal Aviation Authority to downgrade Indonesia’s safety rating that amounted to a de facto ban. No Indonesian carrier currently flies to either Europe or the United States. The ban came after two major air disasters in the Indonesian archipelago since the beginning of this year.

The EU ban has led some European tourists to cancel planned trips to Indonesia.
“Saudi Arabia has only sent a letter to the Indonesian Air Transportation Directorate General saying its Civil Aviation Authority is willing to meet with its counterpart, the Indonesian civil aviation authority,” Sudaryono added.

He said Saudi Arabia wanted to know in detail the reason for the EU’s decision to bar Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe. “The visit of Saudi experts will reveal what Indonesia is doing and will do to improve the performance of its airlines,” Sudaryono said.

He said, if necessary, Indonesia would also show Saudi Arabia the flight safety rating it had obtained, including the fact that Garuda’s flight safety conditions had been ranked first.

“We are hopeful the Kingdom will be convinced of our safety measures,” he added.

He said Jakarta had also held meetings with the civil aviation authorities of several other countries like the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea in connection with the EU’s flight ban.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