Effective midnight 31 March, Indonesian airports enforced rulings limiting passengers to carry Liquids, Aerosols and Gels (LAG) as carry-on luggage in plane cabins. This include perfumes, hairspray, thinners, ethanol and similar. Announced on Television just a few days before, the new rules surprised a number of passengers. A foreign tourist who wished to carry a bottle of mineral water into the plane at Bali protested to the new rule, but finally gulped down his drink in front of airport officials. 

In compliance with the new ICAO ruling which strictly limits LAG’s to be carried into the plane, passengers are allowed a maximum of one (1) liter of liquids, which must be carried in a transparent plastic bag. The rule is enforced to minimize terrorist attempts which may use LAG’s as medium. Airport authorities added, however, that baby’s milk and food, and a limited amount of medicines may be carried on board.

While this ruling applies as of immediately on international flights, this is not yet applied to domestic flights, since this needs more socializing to be understood and accepted by domestic passengers. On the other hand, Garuda spokesman said that the airline had applied the ruling on Japan flights since early March, since Japan enforced the ruling already in March.

Earlier, new Director General for Air Transportation, Budhi Muiawan Suyitno, admitted that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) of the United States, had given full security rating to Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport only, having audited all of Indonesia’s 25 international airports. This includes Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport which TSA deems not to have fulfilled all safety requirements.

Meanwhile, Air Services Australia has offered strategic cooperation with Indonesia to accelerate improvement of air safety infrastructure through a single air traffic control (ATC) and the application of an automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADSB) to replace the radar system reports Bisnis Indonesia. Erenzt Joseph of Ernst and Young, the company that has been appointed by ASA said that the draft offer has been submitted to the PT Angkasa Pura I and II for study, while the offer has also been discussed with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, said Erenzt Joseph.

It is foreseen that the cooperation between ASA and the government of Indonesia will accelerate improvement of air safety infrastructure in Indonesia to become more efficient, since air safety is not solely the responsibility of one country but also that of the entire region.

ASA assessed that the largest part of Indonesia’s air safety infrastructure is already outdated, both technologically as well as in human resources capabilities. For this reason, plans are afoot to exchange personnel between ASA and Indonesia’s Angkasa Pura. In addition, ASA also offers the development of ADSB travel to replace the radar system since radar is relatively more expensive.