Flight ban on Indonesia hopefully lifted at end of this year

The flight ban imposed by the European Union on Indonesian airlines in July 2007 will likely be lifted at the end of this year after a EU investigation team found some positive signs.
Led by Frederico Grandini the five expert member team of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was in Indonesia last November to audit and verify the condition of Indonesian airline companies including their regulators and operators.
Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal recently said the team was satisfied with the result of their work as they noticed that improvements had been made in the skills of the pilots and crew members, maintenance and others, both hardware and software.
The team, comprising Jean-Luis Ammeloot of EASA (Germany), Declan Fitzpatrick (EASA, Ireland), Dick Nederlof (EASA, the Netherlands), Annette Ruge (EASA, Germany) and Auke Tjeerd Sebastian van der Weide (EASA, Germany), was satisfied with the current condition of the Indonesian airline companies.
Regarding the regulators (based on their explanations to the transportation minister), the minister said they noticed that several things, especially regulations, still needed improvement, although not fundamentally.
On the EU team`s findings that needed improvement by the regulators and operators, Jusman said they had yet to make a final decision as they were only a team handling technical matters, and no decision makers.
Actually, the minister said, the European Union had praised the steps taken by Indonesian government, but still awaiting approval from the 26 European Union member countries that the improvements made by Indonesia were permanent.