Garuda hoping for European exemption

Garuda Indonesia is hoping the Europeans will exempt it from bans on Indonesian carriers after it successfully completed an international safety audit program.

All Indonesian carriers are currently banned from landing in Europe because of worries about safety oversight and regulation in Australia’s northern neighbour.

Crashes in Indonesia, including a Garuda accident involving Australians, contributed to an increase in the accident rate from 0.65 to 0.75 hull losses per million flights last year.

Garuda has now successfully completed the International Air Transport Association’s Operational Safety Audit.

The audit is an internationally recognised and accepted evaluation system designed to assess airlines’ operational management and control systems according to 900 standards.

It covers eight major aspects of an airline’s ability to deliver a safe operation: organisation and management, flight operations, operational control and flight dispatch, aircraft engineering and maintenance, cabin operations, aircraft ground handling, cargo operations, and operational security.

All IATA members are required to undergo the audit.

Some countries have built the standards into their civil aviation regulations.

Garuda chief executive Emirsyah Satar said gaining IOSA registration was testimony to Garuda’s commitment to safety.

He hoped the achievement would gain some recognition from the European Commission and the commission would end its ban on Indonesian airline arrivals.