Jakarta - Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Friday that the European Union's (EU's) ban on the country's airlines, imposed after a spate of air accidents that killed hundreds of people in recent years, has been good for spurring the improvement of local aviation safety.

Kalla made the statement one day after the EU decided to continue its ban on 51 Indonesian airlines, which was imposed on July 6 last year. The EU said a lot of improvements are still needed by Indonesia to fully meet with international air safety standards.

To meet the standards, Indonesia has cooperated with the group and implemented strict rules on aviation safety. Scores of airliners have been grounded for failure to comply with the standard. The EU has sent its aviation expert to help Indonesia to implement a road map to improved safety.

The country will have a new aviation law this year, which meets the requirements of the EU in safety standards, according to the director of aviation of the Transport Ministry, Budhi Suyitno Muliawan.

Vice President Kalla said that although the restriction had decreased revenues because of its impact on the country's tourism industry, the ban had pushed the Indonesian aviation sector to make improvements.

"There are also positive impacts of the ban. We are forced to improve our system in order to meet the international safety standard. So I think it makes our aviation better," Kalla told a press conference at his office in Jakarta.

A rapid growth of budget airlines had taken place after Indonesia reformed its economy a decade ago.

The vice president admitted that the proliferation of these budget carriers had contributed to a series of crashes, including the crash of Adam Air carrier into the sea in central Indonesia, killing more than 100 people on board on New Year's Eve last year. In March 2007 a Garuda Indonesia plane overshot the runway in Yogyakarta province in central Java and burst into flames, killing 21 people.

Some other small accidents followed the tragedy, hurting a number of passengers.

"We must be objective to see the facts," said Kalla. (dpa)