Free Republic

BRUSSELS: The European Union will ban all 51 Indonesian airlines including national carrier Garuda from its airspace on safety grounds, officials said on Thursday. The ban, proposed by EU experts this week and due to take effect on July 6, follows a series of air crashes in Indonesia and reports of deteriorating safety standards since deregulation of the country's aviation sector in the late 1990s. No Indonesian carriers fly to the EU, but the ban is set to harm the sprawling archipelago's tourist industry, as Europeans will be warned not to use Indonesian airlines on transit routes, such as between...