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November 11,  2011 – In going to Indonesia, Australians have many foreign airlines to choose from, like Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Thai or Jetstar to fly in and out of the country. You might avoid local airlines if you can, since there is currently no domestic airline with flawless safety record in Indonesia to rely on, until the new measures will come into place. Garuda used to be the Indonesia’s national carrier. It is not anymore the safest airline in the country.

After the air travel disasters in Indonesia, things get really tricky to evaluate the safest airlines in the country. Forcing the airlines to modernize their fleets would probably lead to a much needed consolidation of companies and higher safety standards in the whole Indonesian airline industry. Restoring Garuda Indonesia’s reputation among Australian air travelers is difficult, the airline’s chief executive Emirsyah Satar says, but good progress is being made.

The reason for many Australians’ wariness of the Indonesian national flag carrier stems back to 2007, when a Garuda domestic Boeing 737 crashed at Yogyakarta airport, killing 21 people including five Australians.

Garuda’s reputation took a battering after the incident. The European Union banned the airline from flying within its airspace later that year. That lasted two years, and Garuda is now back in European skies with flights to Amsterdam, via Dubai.

Mr. Satar conceded that in the past the airline was not in a good condition, but said everyone has worked hard to repair Garuda’s reputation and win back the trust of the travelling public.

Having restored services to Europe, the airline is waiting on the arrival of new aircraft before embarking on a further expansion of its network.

Garuda is also keen to add more flights to the important visa Australian market, including restoring direct flights from Perth to Jakarta – currently, these flights stop in Denpasar, Bali – as well as build frequency from Melbourne and Sydney.

Garuda is the only airline in the world to offer a unique immigration-on-board service – entry visas are purchased when passengers check in and two Indonesian immigration officers complete passport clearance in flight enroute to Jakarta.

The only service currently available is from Sydney to Jakarta. Mr. Satar said the airline was working with the Indonesian Ministry of Immigration to add the feature on all flights out of Australia.

source:
smh.com.au