Transportation Minister Jusman Syafei Jamal said the European Union will observe directly the conditions of Indonesian airlines in connection with its ban on Indonesian airplanes from flying to its airspace.
"They will send a team to Indonesia but they also asked us to send them first five kinds of documents on Indonesia`s aviation," the said here on Saturday.
He said that the documents they asked included progress reports on Indonesia`s aviation safety, schedules on Indonesia`s aviation improvement programs and reports on the latest conditions of Indonesian airline companies.
"We have sent the documents on Friday. They said they would send the team and fix the date of its visit after assessing the documents. We hope they will arrive early in August," the minister said.
He said that the planned visit of the European Union`s observation team constituted a result of his dialogs and negotiations with the European side in an effort to overcome the European Union`s flight ban.
Jusman acknowledged that the EU had imposed the ban due to slow response of the directorate general of transportation to the EU`s warning letter it sent last May.
The planned visit of the European Union`s team is at the request of Indonesia in connection with the EU`s flight ban on 51 Indonesian airlines from flying the European Union`s airspace.
The European Commission recently announced it was banning 51 Indonesian airline companies from flying to its member countries as of July 6, 2007, because of flight safety concerns.
The EU experts recommended the ban in response to a series of air accidents in Indonesia earlier this year.
Some quarters consider the ban to be a heavy blow to the Indonesian airline companies and tourism sector.
"Some four million European tourists visit Indonesia every year while the number of Indonesians visiting the continent is more than that," Gustanto M Hum, chairman of the Tourism Study Program of the University of North Sumatra, said recently. (*)
Copyright © 2007 ANTARA
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