Indonesia, France deepen aviation safety oversight ahead of 2027 ICAO audit

Jakarta — Indonesia’s civil aviation regulator and France’s civil aviation authority have moved their technical partnership into a new phase aimed at building a sustainable safety oversight system ahead of an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) audit scheduled for 2027, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA, or Ditjen Hubud) in Indonesia and France’s Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile (DGAC) have cooperated under a Technical Cooperation Agreement since 2019, focusing on inspector competence, standardisation and quality management, the Ministry said in a recent statement.

Indonesia’s air transport directorate held the 11th Steering Committee Meeting for the civil aviation technical cooperation with DGAC in Jakarta on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, to align future priorities before the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) in 2027.

State radio RRI reported that the cooperation has entered a phase called the Sustainable Oversight System, designed to strengthen how Indonesia monitors aviation safety over the long term. The Indonesian director general of civil aviation, Lukman F. Laiysa, said the success of the programme would be measured by lasting improvements in safety oversight capacity rather than the number of meetings or workshops.

Focus areas of the programme

According to RRI and the Transport Ministry’s air transport directorate, the current phase of cooperation prioritises several technical areas, including:

• Specific Approvals for certain types of operations.
• Low Visibility Operations approvals.
• Safety Management System (SMS) assessment and risk assessment.
• Personnel licensing examination processes.
• Indonesia’s State Safety Programme and broader safety oversight system.

The Ministry has previously described the Annexes to the Technical Cooperation Agreement with DGAC as a framework to improve the civil aviation safety oversight system, upgrade human resources competence and support ICAO standards and recommended practices.

The cooperation is supported by Airbus, which provides technical experts to assist Indonesia and France in implementing the agreed work programmes, according to the air transport directorate.

Preparing for an ICAO audit in 2027

In the September steering committee meeting, Indonesia’s Transport Ministry and DGAC focused on aligning priorities ahead of the ICAO USOAP audit planned for 2027. The Ministry has framed the audit as an important milestone in assessing how effectively Indonesia oversees aviation safety.

Media reports citing the Ministry indicate that work begun in earlier Annexes to the Technical Cooperation Agreement is being continued and refined so that improvements in safety oversight can be maintained beyond the audit period.

Implications for Bali and Ngurah Rai International Airport

The Ministry’s releases and domestic media reports on the September 2026 steering committee meeting do not single out any specific airport or region as an implementation site. There is no reference to targeted new operating requirements, inspections or certification measures for Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali.

For travellers, the programme is best understood as an institutional initiative to improve how Indonesia’s national civil aviation regulator supervises safety, rather than as a change to passenger procedures, flight schedules or airport security rules.

However, improvements to national safety oversight systems and standards apply across Indonesia’s civil aviation sector. Any future direct impact on airlines serving Bali, airport operators or passengers would depend on how the technical recommendations from the Indonesia–France cooperation are implemented in practice, details of which have not yet been publicly specified in relation to Ngurah Rai.

Background on Indonesia–France aviation cooperation

Indonesia and France signed a Technical Cooperation Agreement on civil aviation in 2019, forming the basis for a series of technical Annexes covering safety oversight and inspector competence. Annex V, signed in late 2025, and Annex VI, signed in July 2026, extended and updated the scope of cooperation with support from Airbus.

The 11th Steering Committee Meeting in September 2026 marked the continuation of this cooperation in a phase explicitly focused on building a sustainable oversight system and preparing for the ICAO USOAP audit in 2027.

Sources

• RRI.co.id – Kemenhub dan DGAC Prancis Perkuat Pengawasan Keselamatan Penerbangan Indonesia
• Hubud Kemenhub – Annex VI Kerja Sama Teknis Penerbangan Sipil antara Ditjen Hubud dan DGAC Prancis
• SANA – تعاون إندونيسي فرنسي لتعزيز سلامة الطيران المدني
• VietnamPlus – Indonesia, France team up in safe aviation