Inspectors from France and Netherlands will soon come to Indonesia to check safety standard of Indonesian airlines, Indonesian transport minister Jjusman Syafii Djamal said on Nov. 20.

The country's leading airline Garuda Indonesia seeks opening routes to the two countries in cooperation with its counterparts in the two countries.

"In the near future, they will conduct inspections in Indonesia, in terms of safety," Djamal told a press conference at the Indonesia Defense Expo at the Halim Perdana Kusuma airforce base.

The minister said that the country's airlines, which have been banned by the European Union, had achieved some progress on their safety.

"Actually, the Indonesian airlines now have complied with the international safety standard," he said.

The European Union banned all 51 Indonesian airlines in July 2007, after a rampant air accident that claimed more than 300 lives.