The Australian government warned its citizens yesterday that security at the Indonesian resort island of Bali's international airport does not meet international standards.
In an updated travel advisory, it said that the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had declared that Bali's Denpasar airport does not comply with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.
It said Qantas and Australian Airlines services continued to operate as normal to Bali with "additional security measures in place to meet ICAO security standards."
A press release posted on the TSA Web site said that the US Department of Homeland Security had directed US air carriers issuing tickets for travel between the US and Indonesia to notify buyers accordingly. It said TSA representatives were assisting local authorities "with correcting security deficiencies."
Carriers flying between the US and Indonesia were temporarily providing their own additional security, it said. The Indonesian government was notified of its failure to comply with ICAO standards 90 days ago, it added.
Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said that the government had been aware of the security concerns for some time.
"We've been involved in a training program at Denpasar and also Jakarta to try to improve the skills of security staff," he was quoted as saying.
Truss said that the Australian government had invested A$1.3 million (US$940,000) in the 18-month project.
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