Banned in EU, but Garuda safe for Aussies

An AAP report says that Prime Minister John Howard has said that Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda Airlines will continue to fly in Australian airspace, despite a move by the European Union to ban the carrier.

The EU late last week moved to ban all of Indonesia’s 51 airlines, including Garuda, from flying in European air space following a string of safety concerns in recent months, but Mr Howard said his Government was satisfied Garuda – the only Indonesian airline traversing Australian airspace – was safe.

“We, on my available advice, are satisfied about Garuda,” Mr Howard said, adding, “I have not had any advice suggesting that Garuda is an unsafe airline and I don’t want to jump to any conclusions and I don’t think it is right to do so.”

“We will examine what the Europeans have decided and what the basis of it is, but at this stage we have no reason to alter our arrangements in relation to Garuda.”

Earlier last week, the Indonesian government pulled nine small airlines from service in the archipelago nation as part of safety efforts following a string of crashes.

Garuda was however found to have improved its aviation standards.

Report by The Mole and AAP