EU to send air safety experts to Indonesia

JAKARTA, July 6 (Reuters) The European Union will send safety experts to Indonesia to review an EU ban on Indonesian airlines which came into effect today, the EU's ambassador to Indonesia said.

Fifty-one Indonesian airlines, including national carrier Garuda, have been barred from European airspace due to safety concerns.

No Indonesian airlines fly to the EU, but the ban obliges tourist agencies to warn customers that Indonesian airlines are unsafe if they sell package tours which use such carriers.

Indonesian aviation officials said the ban was ill-informed as it failed to take into account this year's improvements.

The EU ''blacklist'' is updated every three months based on reports from international airline bodies, including the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), as well as reports from individual countries.

''We will send a team of safety experts from European countries to check with airlines on safety conditions,'' Jean Breteche, the EU's ambassador to Indonesia, told reporters after a meeting with Indonesian aviation authorities.

''We hope to reverse the decision as soon as possible ... if the EU has enough proof of safety conditions.'' The Southeast Asian nation's air safety record has come under scrutiny after two accidents this year.

In March, a Garuda Indonesia plane with 140 people on board overshot the runway in Yogyakarta in Java and burst into flames, killing 21 people.

In January, a plane belonging to budget carrier Adam Air crashed into the sea off Sulawesi island. All 102 on board are presumed dead.

This week, Indonesia signed an agreement with ICAO to improve air safety, committing itself to implement safety management based on international standards.

Indonesia also started issuing safety rankings following the Garuda crash in March. Garuda made the top of three levels in the latest rankings issued last month.

Air travel in Indonesia has blossomed since the liberalisation of the sector in 1999, but the rapid growth has raised questions over whether safety has been compromised.

REUTERS GT PM1605