Whither Indonesian airlines?

In my travels I've never seen anything particularly egregious about Indonesian airlines, and in fact I've quite liked Garuda. In comparison I've risked my life on some real clunkers, like airlines from Bhutan and Bangladesh, where they're still working on the idea of proper cabin pressure.

Seems like the European Commission, though, has a different stance on Indonesian airline safety. In fact they have a blanket ban on local airlines travelling to EU countries, which is a crushing blow in a tough economy. Even at the best of times, airlines face a very difficult path to profit.

RI is doing its best to try to overturn the ban, lobbying the EU ferociously on the subject at the recent ASEM summit. They're coldblooded about it, though, and it looks like there are no changes imminent, at least until Indonesia revises its transportation laws in the interest of passenger safety.

Granted, some progress has already been made by Garuda, Merpati and Airfast, with some airlines achieving a supposed grade of 35. But when European authorities are looking for a score of 65, that's hardly passing with flying colors.

Today's Top Stories

What are they smoking? Indonesians confident in economy

Controversy swirls around Bumi shares

Bird flu not going away