T

he government is set to team up with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to help reduce carbon emissions in the country'€™s aviation industry to create an environmentally friendly air transportation sector.

Transportation Minister EE Mangindaan said ICAO would assist the ministry to develop local civil aviation human resources and create a range of objectives, such as an improved master plan on emissions, the promotion of alternative fuels initiatives and more efficient airspace designs with a performance-based navigation system.

'€œThis project is very important as this will help us tackle environmental issues in our aviation sector in the long run,'€ he told The Jakarta Post from Montreal, Canada, on Monday (Tuesday Jakarta time) after witnessing the signing of an agreement on a green aviation pilot project.

'€œIt also shows our strong commitment as a country to create green flights and green airports in the future.'€

The agreement was signed by Transportation Ministry air transportation director-general Herry Bakti Gumay and ICAO secretary-general Raymond Benjamin, with ICAO chairman Kobeh Gonzales among the witnesses.

Mangindaan said the collaboration, which would be effective for three years, was crucial since commercial airlines had been growing rapidly for the past five years, with more planes spewing out carbon dioxide in the skies.

The first step of the collaboration would be to mix aviation turbine fuel (avtur) with 2 percent of biodiesel and bioethanol next January.

'€œIndonesia will be the first nation in the world to implement this action and to have a legal umbrella for environmentally friendly aviation infrastructure development,'€ ministry spokesman Bambang S. Ervan said.

Every Indonesian airline is capturing high domestic demand by putting new aircraft into operation every year.

The largest domestic player, Lion Air Group, has signed a US$46.4 billion deal with two top aircraft makers, Airbus and Boeing, for 234 single-aisle passenger A320 and 230 short-haul B737 planes.

Most of the aircraft would be operated within Indonesia'€™s skies and would be sent in phases from 2014 to 2022.

Meanwhile, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has announced it will operate 154 aircraft by the end of 2015.

Apart from the collaboration, Bambang said Indonesia was eyeing an ICAO council member seat during the Montreal trip. Being a member would improve the country'€™s collaboration with international organizations like the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) and the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association (IFALPA), to help improve the safety and security oversight capability of Indonesia'€™s civil aviation authority, among other benefits.

Indonesia was an ICAO council member between 1962 and 2001, but was forced to leave due to the impact of the 1998 financial crisis and a lack of aviation safety progress.