Jakarta to Bali the safe way

Sunday Times travel expert Richard Green:

There have been a spate of air crashes in Indonesia over recent years, and the situation has got so bad that the EU has added all Indonesia-based carriers to its banned list - see

http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/list_en.htm. It means that the EU aviation authorities feel the airlines there all fall short of acceptable safety standards.

Everyone who’s ever been to Indonesia has an airline horror story ­ mine was in Sumatra on an old Merpati airlines plane with black smoke billowing from the for right engine ­ so for time being, you are better off booking with on alternative carriers.

Until recently this wasn’t possible, and you’d be stuck with Garuda (www.garuda-indonesia.com), Lion Air (www.lion.co.id), which has new aircraft and uses the accidentally menacing strap line ‘We make people fly’, or Adam Air (so bad that it has even been grounded by the Indonesian government).

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