JAPAN SATISFIED WITH GARUDA'S AIR SAFETY STANDARDS

Tokyo - Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau (CAB) said a Garuda Indonesia GA-881 plane can continue to fly to the Japanese destinations following its spot checks carried out on the plane over the weekend.

"The CAB's inspection team is satisfied with the air safety standards of Garuda planes," Arif Wibowo, Garuda Regional Manager for Japan, China, Korea and the United States, said Saturday (07/07).

The results of the spot checks suggested that Japan differed from the European Union (EU) about the air safety standards of Garuda planes, he said.

The spot checks came nearly a week after the EU's aviation experts issued a recommendation for the 27-nation block to ban all 51 Indonesian airlines from flying to the region, citing unsafe flights as a reason.

Japan is the second country that believes Indonesian airlines remain airworthy.

The Australian Embassy in Jakarta said this week that Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) had confirmed that a series of spot checks carried out on Garuda so far this year had not identified any major problems.

N. Nakamura, who led the spot checks on the Garuda plane on Friday (06/07) said the Indonesian flag-carrier was highly committed to complying with air safety and security regulations.

It took a day for the CAB's inspection team to carry out the spot checks on the Garuda plane serving the Tokyo-Denpasar-Jakarta route.

Given the results of spot checks, Japan had no reason to ban its citizens from using Indonesian airlines, Arif said (Antara, 07/07/07).