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Indonesian airlines and the business community on Friday hailed the recommendation to partially lift the two-year-old ban on their flying to European Union countries, and cited hopes the move would increase European tourist arrivals here.

“We welcome the recommendation with open arms and are fully grateful, even though the official announcement will be two weeks from now,” said Emirsyah Satar, chief executive of flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia, one of the four airlines that received the green light to fly over European airspace.

Speaking by telephone after arriving here from Brussels, Emirsyah said that Garuda would immediately work to open a direct flight to Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He said such a move would need about six to nine months of preparation, “but we will fly to Amsterdam, definitely.”

Pujobroto, Garuda’s corporate secretary, said the airline may be able to fly to Europe by early 2010.

Garuda in April estimated that it lost potential sales of about $9 million annually as a result of the European Union’s blanket ban since July 2007.

Tengku Burhanuddin, secretary general for the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association, also welcomed the recommendation and said that he hoped that the EU would soon fully lift the ban.

“For the sake of the country, this is great news,” Burhanuddin said. “The most important thing is that the number of visitors from Europe could soon rise as insurance companies will now surely agree to guarantee them again, unlike when the ban was still active.”

“The second thing is that the image of the country and its airlines in the eyes of the global airline community has recovered,” he added.
Ben Sukma, the chairman of the Indonesian Travel Agents Association (Asita), also expected that demand for tickets and tours throughout Indonesia from European tourists would rise again following the partial lifting of the ban.

“We shall benefit from this, although the global [economic] crisis is still affecting us. Our tourism sector may grow although maybe not by much,” he said.

Lion Air, the airline with the largest passenger volume in the country, also praised the news, although it is still banned from flying to Europe.

“It’s surely good news for our airline community,” said Edward Sirait, Lion Air’s spokesman. “We hope they [the EU] will soon lift the ban completely.”

Edward declined to speculate on why Lion Air was not included on the list of approved airlines by the EU regulator.

“We currently do not have any plans to fly to Europe and only plan to strengthen our presence in the regional market,” Edward said. Lion Air has several regional routes and plans to soon serve a route to Jedda, Saudi Arabia.