I tried not to speak up, but just can't help it. I keep thinking about it and feel a need to ask around for your opinion.

This is a news of 5 days ago which I reckon affecting some of your travel plans. At least that is happening here to some of people I know in Angola. As a result of this blacklist, Angolan government bans European flights going into and out of Angola. Some of these people have scheduled their travel back home in Europe and needed to cancel because of this situation.

But still relating to the same news, what I care about the most is Indonesia. Although I really hope that my suspicion is not valid, I have a fear that on this particular issue Indonesia is being a victim of bad publication. Well I hope I am not correct, that is why I am writing this post to ask for your opinion. 

It is the news on 28th June on airlines banned and blacklisted by EU.

The Title of the article is: EU bans all Indonesian Airlines.

All Indonesian airlines including national carrier Garuda are to be banned from the European Union. An updated blacklist of unsafe airlines also includes operators from Bulgaria, Moldova, Angola and Ukraine.

The new list includes all 51 carriers from Indonesia, eight from Moldova, six from Bulgaria, Angolan carrier TAAG Angola Airlines and Volare Aviation from Ukraine.

- From BBC

To start with, I'd like to let you all know that I am not a fan of Indonesian airlines. Surely in my opinion they are very reckless of safety, they had series of accident for the last couple of years, and the last accident happened to Garuda Airlines, the national airline that was considered the safest in the country. In this particular accident too, the loved one of one of my closest friends died. I lost my faith in Indonesian airlines since then.

However, something really strikes me is the fact that this article put Indonesian airlines as the headline. As much as I am deeply disappointed by Indonesian airlines, I still don't think Indonesia deserve such exposure.

Until today, none of Indonesian airlines operate in Europe, not even close. Only one Indonesian airline that serves longer distance than regional, which is Garuda Indonesia Airline. I reckon that Garuda is planning to re-open the route to Amsterdam from Jakarta in 2008, but up to today, no flight is flying to EU or the region around. The other 50 only serves domestic flights. You see, it is not even halfway distance to Europe!

I personally think that in this case the media is not being objective in exposing Indonesian airlines as the headline of this EU's blacklist. It is not a lie that Indonesian airlines messed up lately, but the fact is that out of the 51 airlines as said in the article, 50 of them is not touching Europe and not even planning to. It is not a good publication for the nation and again, Indonesia image suffers badly. For this, I am quite sad. :(

But again I am not from media industry. Moreoever, I do not know too much about EU and their policy. So, I am not at all an expert to judge. What do you think: Is media or EU being fair to Indonesia?