T

he lifting of a ban by the European Union (EU) on Indonesian airlines flying through European airspace demonstrates Indonesia's significant improvement in the field of aviation safety and may lead to more airlines being taken off the list soon, the European Union's (EU) envoy said.

Julian Wilson, the EU ambassador to Indonesia, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that as Indonesia continued its efforts to improve air safety, at least two more of its airlines could meet the safety standards required by Europe and be removed from the list of banned carriers in the EU.

"It has been confirmed that Indonesia has made a great achievement by improving its air safety. I think at least two more airlines will be removed from the EU ban in the near future. Very possibly, *they will be* Lion Air and Air Asia Indonesia," Wilson told The Jakarta Post in an interview.

He said the EU would consider taking other Indonesian airlines off the list when the Indonesian directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) recertified them.

"The DGCA certifies the national airlines on a regular basis by checking that they are operating safely and in line with new Indonesian laws. I understand that some are planned to be recertified by DGCA this summer, including Lion Air. This shows that the EU now has confidence in oversight capabilities of the DGCA," he said.

The EU imposed a ban on air travel to Europe by all Indonesian airlines on July 6, 2007, after a series of disasters. The crash of a Mandala air flight in Medan in September 2005 that killed nearly 150 passengers, the death of an entire Adam Air flight in a crash in 2007 in South Sulawesi and the crash of a Garuda flight upon landing in March 2007 in Yogyakarta killing 21 passengers, contributed significantly toward the implementation of the ban.

Besides air safety issues, Wilson said, Indonesia and the EU had also signed a new agreement governing a wider area of its relations, including on improving transport cooperation.

Earlier Tuesday, Indonesia finally agreed on a number of terms regarding various bilateral concerns between Indonesia and the EU after the latter lifted the air restriction on four Indonesian airlines.

The agreement, dubbed the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), is a step toward enhancing relations between Indonesia and the EU through closer and more regular dialogue and the reinforcement of existing bilateral areas of cooperation.