March 23, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1428

JAKARTA: All of Indonesia's 54 airlines needed to improve safety standards, the nation's air transport chief revealed on Thursday, as he launched a safety drive in the wake of several tragic disasters.

Some airlines, including Adam Air, must improve standards or face closure, while one small carrier, Dirgantara Air Service, has already been grounded, Budhi Muliawan Suyitno said.

“Since the deregulation of airlines there are many violations ... that could cause latent failure, such as a serious accident,” Suyitno told reporters.

The announcement follows a March 7 crash landing by a Garuda Indonesia jet in the central city of Yogyakarta, which killed 21 people, and after an Adam Air jet plunged into the sea off Sulawesi on New Year's Day, killing 102.

Indonesia's airline industry was deregulated in the 1990s, encouraging many new operators to take to the skies and producing massive passenger growth, but the recent disasters and other accidents have raised fears of lax safety.

The drive classifies the 54 airlines into three categories, but none qualified for the top one indicating high safety, Suyitno said in a statement.--AFP