Late October 2008 at the venue of Asian-European Meeting (ASEM) in Beijing, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono received the unwelcome news from the President of the European Commission informing that EU to extend blacklisting Indonesian aircraft by by at least another 3 months. The status prohibits any Indonesia registered aircraft for landing within or flying over European airspace, effectively putting on hold any plans by an Indonesian carrier to resume flights from Bali to major European cities.

Among the reasons of blacklisting extension, EU refers to revision of Indonesian aviation law of 1992 which is considered inadequate to address safety and security among the country’s commercial airlines. In a press release posted on the European Commission website on November 14, 2008, the Commission’s Vice-President in charge of transportation, Antonio Tajani, said that airlines and countries listed on the so called blacklist fail to achieve a certain degree of safety on which they can rest assured. The new list of unsafe airlines dated November 11, 2008 supersedes the previous list published in July 2008.

Despite successful efforts by a number of Indonesian carriers including Garuda Indonesia and Mandala Airlines to meet International Air Traffic Association (IATA) operating safety audit (IOSA) standards, the European ban remains in place reflecting the EU’s view that proper Indonesian government supervision of national airline sector remains fundamentally inferior.