Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 is wholly owned by the Indonesian government, could be held liable under two exceptions to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. She contended that because Garuda was authorized to operate in the United States at the time, the immunity had been explicitly waived under the rules of the Department of Transportation, which requires foreign air carriers to open themselves to suit in the United States as a condition of being allowed to fly to, from, or within this country. The waiver is limited to actions arising under treaties. Coyle also claimed that by selling tickets in the United States, Garuda waived
Garuda Indonesia Vishnoe's vogel, die zijn vleugels uitslaat hoog boven uw eilanden"", which means "I'm Garuda, Vishnu's Bird, that spreads its wings high above the Islands". In Hindu tradition, Garuda is the name of Lord Vishnu's mount ("vahana"). The line was mentioned by Sukarno during the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference at The Hague, from 23 August to 2 November 1949. In its current institutional form, Garuda Indonesia had its beginnings in the Indonesian war of independence against the Dutch in the late 1940s, when Garuda flew special transports with a Douglas DC-3. The first aircraft was a DC-3 known as "Seulawah" (Acehnese: