Indonesian authorities have announced sanctions against five airlines that they claim have been operating flights without valid permits.
The crackdown follows the crash of Indonesia Air Asia flight 8501 last month. As previously reported by Business Traveller Asia-Pacific (see here), the airline was forced to suspend its Surabaya–Singapore route after reports circulated that it did not have the authorisation to operate the aforementioned route on Sundays – the day of the tragedy.
According to Indonesian transport minister Ignasius Jonan, the five airlines – Lion Air, Wings Air, Susi Air, TransNusa and even national carrier Garuda Indonesia – have all been flying some routes despite not possessing the required permits.
In response, some 61 flights have been suspended, pending re-application of the permits.
In a report by The Wall Street Journal, Jonan stated that there is no indication of corruption within the affected carriers. Instead, the cause was attributed to “administrative negligence”.
No lasting sanctions are to be expected, with the Ministry of Transportation willing to consider approvals for the permits as soon as the five airlines have re-applied for them.
For more information, visit dephub.go.id
Clement Huang
