The European Union (EU) has sent an aviation expert to Indonesia to assist the country in the lifting of EU ban on 51 Indonesian airlines, Indonesian Transport Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said on Mar. 5.

Aviation Expert Jean Pierre Ambrosini would stay for several months in Indonesia to observe the implementation of the country's roadmap on aviation safety before he reports it to the next EU meeting in July, said the minister.

In January, EU reaffirmed that Indonesia still needed to do a lot to meet EU air safety standard.

EU imposed the ban on Jul. 6 last year following rampant air accidents of the Indonesian airlines and extended it on Nov. 28. EU lifted its ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and on Blue Wing Airlines of Surinam.

Ambrosini, accompanied by EU ambassador to Indonesia Pierre Philippe, met with the minister at his office on Mar. 5.

"The presence of Ambrosini was to help Indonesia's efforts to speed up the lifting of EU ban on 51 airlines," Djamal told a press conference after the meeting.

The minister said that one of Ambrosini's focus was on the Indonesia's fast-track program to prioritize on lifting the ban on four out of the 51 airlines.

Indonesia has proposed to EU to allow four airlines, including the leading carrier of Garuda, Mandala and two non-carriers Premiair and Airfast, to enter the EU territory, according to the minister.

"I expect the presence of Ambrosini is like a light in a dark channel that will bring us exit from the EU ban," said Djamal.

Ambrosini said that EU would help advise Indonesian aviation authorities to meet the roadmap on aviation safety and to ensure all would be well implemented.

"Now (I am) in the work in helping the authorities to put in place the plan," he told reporters after the meeting.

At the New Year's Eve in 2006, a plane of the local carrier Adam Air with more than 100 people on board lost contact and disappeared in the waters of central Indonesia. In March 2007, a Garuda Indonesia plane with 140 people on board overshot the runway in Yogyakarta province and burst into flames, killing 21 people.