No ban on Garuda flights to Saudi (Khaleej Time Online)

5 August 2007 , Habib Shaikh

JEDDAH — Garuda Indonesia will not be banned from flying into Saudi Arabia, according to official sources in Jakarta.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia was considering a ban on the airline following a similar ban enforced by the European Union.

The US Federal Aviation Authority had decided in April 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 in the wake of two major air disasters in the Asian archipelago since the beginning of the year. The Kingdom put off the ban plan pending the visit of a team of experts to Jakarta for a review and inspection of its facilities and operations.

A six-member team of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) of Saudi Arabia had inspected all of Garuda’s facilities, operations and training centres and expressed satisfaction over the safety standards.

The Saudi team comprised Capt. Berenji, and was 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 on Friday. Garuda operates eight flights a week from Jakarta to Jeddah, of which three are via Riyadh. It has planned up to 60 extra flights between June and September to transport Umrah pilgrims.

The carrier is planning to fly 210,000 Haj pilgrims this year. After years in the red, Garuda 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 will fly during the year-end holiday season.