Indonesia pledged on Saturday to investigate flight violations by AirAsia, as search teams found four large parts of the airline’s plane that crashed into the sea last weekend with 162 people on board.
The country’s transport ministry said the ill-fated aircraft had been flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed, and the airline has now been suspended from flying the route from the city of Surabaya to Singapore.
“It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that’s the problem,” director-general of air transport Djoko Murjatmodjo said.
He said AirAsia’s permit for the route would be suspended until investigations were completed, while other airlines in the country would also be examined.
“We will carry out an audit or an evaluation on all airlines in Indonesia over whether there are any violations related to route, time and schedule,” he said.
Major parts of the Airbus A320-200 were found in the Java Sea off the island of Borneo late Friday and Saturday, raising hopes that the remaining bodies and the black box recorders, crucial to determining the cause of the crash, would soon be located.
A statement from the Indonesian transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata said AirAsia Indonesia had not been permitted to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sundays and had not asked to change its schedule. But the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said it had granted permission for the airline’s Sunday flight.
It was unclear how the airline, a unit of Malaysia-based AirAsia, had been able to fly without the necessary authorisation from its starting point.
AirAsia Indonesia chief Sunu Widyatmoko told reporters that the company would not comment until the results of the investigation were known, adding that the airline would “fully cooperate with the government in that evaluation process”. (AFP)
The country’s transport ministry said the ill-fated aircraft had been flying on an unauthorised schedule when it crashed, and the airline has now been suspended from flying the route from the city of Surabaya to Singapore.
“It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that’s the problem,” director-general of air transport Djoko Murjatmodjo said.
He said AirAsia’s permit for the route would be suspended until investigations were completed, while other airlines in the country would also be examined.
“We will carry out an audit or an evaluation on all airlines in Indonesia over whether there are any violations related to route, time and schedule,” he said.
Major parts of the Airbus A320-200 were found in the Java Sea off the island of Borneo late Friday and Saturday, raising hopes that the remaining bodies and the black box recorders, crucial to determining the cause of the crash, would soon be located.
A statement from the Indonesian transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata said AirAsia Indonesia had not been permitted to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sundays and had not asked to change its schedule. But the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said it had granted permission for the airline’s Sunday flight.
It was unclear how the airline, a unit of Malaysia-based AirAsia, had been able to fly without the necessary authorisation from its starting point.
AirAsia Indonesia chief Sunu Widyatmoko told reporters that the company would not comment until the results of the investigation were known, adding that the airline would “fully cooperate with the government in that evaluation process”. (AFP)