Indonesia hopes Europe will soon end its ban of Indonesian airlines, imposed in 2007. Transport Minister Jusman Syafi’i Djamal has been reported as saying that a European Union safety auditor will visit Indonesia next month to assess the country’s progress and consider whether to end the ban

The EU imposed the ban almost two years ago, leaving no Indonesian airline allowed to fly into European airspace. The ban came after a string of fatal crashes in Indonesia, including the Garuda crash at Yogyakarta airport on March 7, 2007.

Djamal on Wednesday said Indonesia had addressed most of the EU’s concerns and hoped to make more progress in the coming weeks. "I’m always optimistic, but it depends on Europe," he told foreign journalists when asked if he was confident the EU would end the ban. "We’ve already done our best." Djamal insists the country has made significant improvements and has reduced the number of crashes.

His comments came just hours after a military transport plane carrying soldiers and their families crashed in East Java, killing at least 98. Djamal expressed regret over the crash, even though he is not directly responsible for military aircraft. "Every crash in aviation is very sad to me, whether it’s civil or military, an airplane crash is an airplane crash," he said.