Indonesian airlines placed on EU blacklist, days before flight 8150 crash

World Today

Dozens of Indonesian airlines have been placed on a new European blacklist. The document, published just 17 days before the AirAsia crash, names 62 carriers from that country. CCTV News’ James Chau reported this story from Jakarta. 

War-torn states like Afghanistan, Angola, Libya, Sudan and Sierra Leone are all listed on a report that blocks them from entering the EU and warns EU citizens from flying with these carriers.

The only major economy to make an appearance was Indonesia. 62 of its airlines are banned by the EU, including some of its best-known carriers: Lion, Batik Air, and Citilink.

“This is our way of saying to the Indonesian authorities, listen we think you still have some way to go to ensure a really high standard of air safety in the country, and that you should be working harder with the airlines to make sure that those highest standards are respected,” European Commission Spokesman Jakub Adamowicz said.

But this is still progress from 2007 when every Indonesian airline was banned, including national carrier Garuda, and AirAsia Indonesia.

In 2010, they were both removed from that blacklist, and internal EU documents confirmed that they now meet “applicable safety standards.” But 92 percent of Indonesian airlines currently don’t.

When asked if they knew that the airlines they were about to board are deemed unacceptable in other parts of the world, Pinky Lookman friend of Flight 8501 victims said,”No, I don’t know. I don’t know about that. If it is on the list, it is worrying.”

“If you’re asking about confidence, yes we’re confident. But everything, we give it to God,” Livia Sujono, a friend of Flight 8501 victims, said.

But with three major air incidents in Southeast Asia in the last year, the time may have come to rely less on destiny and to work more towards strong standards.

With both the EU and the UN raising serious concerns and the crash of Flight 8105 coming so soon after, questions will have to be asked and answered on where Indonesia’s aviation industry goes from here.