Indonesia cracks down on aviation sector after AirAsia crash

[webfact]

Indonesia cracks down on aviation sector after AirAsia crash
TATAN SYUFLANA, Associated Press

PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia (AP) — Highlighting the depth of Indonesia's air safety problems, the transportation ministry revealed harsh measures Monday against everyone who allowed AirAsia Flight 8501 to take off without proper permits — including the suspension of the airport's operator and officials in the control tower.

The licenses and schedules of all airlines flying in the country also will be examined to see if they are violating the rules, said Djoko Murjatmodjo, acting director general of air transportation.

The crackdown comes as searchers continue to fight bad weather while combing the Java Sea for bodies and wreckage of the Airbus A320 that crashed Dec. 28, killing all 162 passengers and crew on board.

The plane was traveling between Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, and Singapore on a Sunday. Officials have since said its permit for the popular route was only for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and that AirAsia quietly switched three of those days. Officials in Singapore, however, have said the plane was authorized to fly on Sundays from its end.

While the airline is being investigated, Indonesia announced on Saturday that it banned all AirAsia flights between Surabaya and Singapore.

Murjatmodjo said the ministry also issued a directive Dec. 31 ordering all airlines to provide pilots with up-to-date weather reports before they take off. Currently, it's up to the captain and co-pilot to research and evaluate flying conditions before departing. In other countries, the carrier's flight operations department performs that task for them.

Dozens of airlines emerged after Indonesia deregulated its aviation industry in the 1990s, making air travel affordable for the first time for many in the world's fourth most populous nation. But a string of accidents in recent years has raised urgent questions about the safety of Indonesia's booming airline sector, with experts saying poor maintenance, rule-bending, and a shortage of trained professionals are partly to blame.

AirAsia, which began operations in 2001 and quickly became one of the region's leaders in low-cost air travel, has not experienced any other crashes and is widely considered a benchmark for safety and professionalism.

It is not known what caused Flight 8501 to crash into the Java Sea 42 minutes after taking off on what was supposed to be a two-hour flight. Just before losing contact, the pilot told air traffic control that he was approaching threatening clouds, but was denied permission to climb to a higher altitude because of heavy air traffic.

While it remains unclear what caused the disaster, bad weather appears to have been a factor, according to a report by Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency.

Since the plane's disappearance, a massive international hunt has been underway. So far, 37 bodies have been recovered, including three more Monday, and sonar has identified five large pieces of what's believed to be the plane on the ocean floor. Divers have tried to get a visual on the objects, but strong currents, silt and mud have kept them from reaching it.

As bodies have been flown back to Surabaya, one by one, many victims' family members have struggled to deal with the slow process and fears that their loved ones may never be found.

On Monday, the relatives were offered a chance to visit the site where the plane crashed into the sea, to scatter flowers and say good-bye.

"I will facilitate the families of the victims who want to see the scene directly and how rescuers are battling high waves and bad weather to search for their loved ones and the plane," said Gen. Moeldoko, Indonesia's top military commander. "We'll prepare two aircraft and a warship for them to go there and throw flowers."
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Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini, Ali Kotarumalos, Margie Mason and Robin McDowell in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-05

[krisb]

Tony Fernandes the CEO, you'd think his head would be on the chopping block now.

Not short of a dollar either it seems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Fernandes

[outboard]

why would his head be on the chopping block ?

and you do know he like owns a frigging airline , of course he has money

maybe you should pop out on the weekend and buy yourself just one jet and see how you go without being "not short of a dollar"

Edited January 5, 2015 by outboard

[jeffreybangkok]

This has got nothing to do with Tony Fernandez for flying this route without proper permit. the CEO in Indonesia is responsible. Know your fact before making blind comment. Majority share holder is Indonesian who run the airlines operation. If the airline do not have the permit to fly, then the control tower should not allow the airline to take off at all. So the main fault is on control tower.

Edited January 6, 2015 by jeffreybangkok

[ezzra]

Why is it always the power that be rush to close the barn's doors after the horses has bolted?

in this case, why did it take the lives of 162 people to 'crack down on aviation sector'?

can't they get things right with out the loss of lives first???

[canman]

Permits or not had nothing to do with this plane going down

[gandalf12]

This has got nothing to do with Tony Fernandez for flying this route without proper permit. the CEO in Indonesia is responsible. Know your fact before making blind comment. Majority share holder is Indonesian who run the airlines operation. If the airline do not have the permit to fly, then the control tower should not allow the airline to take off at all. So the main fault is on control tower.

The man at the top, Tony Fernandez, is the one to carry the can. It is his job to know what is happening and how things are being run. There is no excuse for him not knowing that is what he is paid for

[razer]

Time for Tony to pull the Indonesian franchise. Corruption there worse than Thailand.

[Basil B]

I presume the permit to fly just allows the operator to fly a scheduled route, used to control the amount and timing of flights so not everybody fly's the same route at the same time, AND probably an opportunity for dollops of "Palm Grease"...

[Basil B]

This has got nothing to do with Tony Fernandez for flying this route without proper permit. the CEO in Indonesia is responsible. Know your fact before making blind comment. Majority share holder is Indonesian who run the airlines operation. If the airline do not have the permit to fly, then the control tower should not allow the airline to take off at all. So the main fault is on control tower.

The man at the top, Tony Fernandez, is the one to carry the can. It is his job to know what is happening and how things are being run. There is no excuse for him not knowing that is what he is paid for

Let see what happened first...

If Tony goes, could Air Asia survive without him?

[outboard]

This has got nothing to do with Tony Fernandez for flying this route without proper permit. the CEO in Indonesia is responsible. Know your fact before making blind comment. Majority share holder is Indonesian who run the airlines operation. If the airline do not have the permit to fly, then the control tower should not allow the airline to take off at all. So the main fault is on control tower.

The man at the top, Tony Fernandez, is the one to carry the can. It is his job to know what is happening and how things are being run. There is no excuse for him not knowing that is what he is paid for

we don't do things here on the surface like that maybe in middle earth things happen because you thought them

Even if Tony was the one that had to make sure they had a permit he still would not have to carry the can, the company is an entity in it's own right and therefore the company as an entity would be in the wrong not any individual within that company.

As it is they did have a permit to fly which has been reported in several places quoting both Singapore sources (Singapore has a bilateral agreement in place with Indonesia and as far as they are concerned Airasia has permits to fly this route every day of the week) and also Indonesian sources that claimed that they must of had a permit to fly the question was who gave them that permit and why.

[island hopper]

it is about time there has been a crack down. after the crash a Air Asia flight ran off the runway in the Philippines and a jet engine quit at take off what is wrong with this picture?

[bontang]

Guys RIP to all them poor soles I have traveled on that route many times & like most of Flights all over Indonesia,Thailand this time of the year rough ride,

I am not a Air Asia Fan due to their ground staff arrogance they treat you like they are hearding Buffalow's I only flew with them once,

I am a Boeing fan never had much time for Them Air (Scare) Bus planes

Until they find that Black Box we can only guess on what went wrong, May they RIP.

[MrWorldwide]

Time for Tony to pull the Indonesian franchise. Corruption there worse than Thailand.

Unfortunately it would mean saying goodbye to AirAsia's landing rights in the largest economy in Southeast Asia - I just dont see it happening.

[outboard]

it is about time there has been a crack down. after the crash a Air Asia flight ran off the runway in the Philippines and a jet engine quit at take off what is wrong with this picture?

sensationalist reporting is what is wrong with this picture

no jet engine quit at take off!

it was a bullshit story to make idiots think it was about time for a crack down, and, something is wrong with this picture.

[kingalfred]

Here's hoping Air Asia tanks and another service takes up the routes. They could well be thrown out of Indonesia for violating regs.

Edited January 7, 2015 by kingalfred

[outboard]

Here's hoping Air Asia tanks and another service takes up the routes. They could well be thrown out of Indonesia for violating regs.

they didn't violate regs

they had authority under bilateral agreement with singapore

and why would you hope they tank?

what advantage can you possibly get from Airasia tanking other then some sick perverse pleasure at seeing a company that has done more then any other to make air travel affordable for everyone

Edited January 7, 2015 by outboard

[billd766]

Tony Fernandes the CEO, you'd think his head would be on the chopping block now.

Not short of a dollar either it seems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Fernandes

Why would his head be on the chopping block?

[billd766]

This has got nothing to do with Tony Fernandez for flying this route without proper permit. the CEO in Indonesia is responsible. Know your fact before making blind comment. Majority share holder is Indonesian who run the airlines operation. If the airline do not have the permit to fly, then the control tower should not allow the airline to take off at all. So the main fault is on control tower.

The man at the top, Tony Fernandez, is the one to carry the can. It is his job to know what is happening and how things are being run. There is no excuse for him not knowing that is what he is paid for

Rubbish.

He like every CEO of every major company across the world employs managers to run the divisions under him and the managers do the same.

Do you suggest that he visits EVERY flight of Air Asia before it takes off and checks every single item and if there is a single item wrong or missing he hold the flight up until it gets fixed.

I have a feeling that you know very little about large company management.

Try looking here at the size of the company, its hub and secondary hubs, its subsiduary companies, its fleet of 168 aircraft, the fact that it has over 10,000 employes and tell everybody how one person can know everything that is happening and how things are being run.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirAsia

[krisb]

Tony Fernandes the CEO, you'd think his head would be on the chopping block now.

Not short of a dollar either it seems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Fernandes

Why would his head be on the chopping block?

Well ultimately he is responsible if that plane was not meant to be flying.

[krisb]

This has got nothing to do with Tony Fernandez for flying this route without proper permit. the CEO in Indonesia is responsible. Know your fact before making blind comment. Majority share holder is Indonesian who run the airlines operation. If the airline do not have the permit to fly, then the control tower should not allow the airline to take off at all. So the main fault is on control tower.

The man at the top, Tony Fernandez, is the one to carry the can. It is his job to know what is happening and how things are being run. There is no excuse for him not knowing that is what he is paid for

Rubbish.

He like every CEO of every major company across the world employs managers to run the divisions under him and the managers do the same.

Do you suggest that he visits EVERY flight of Air Asia before it takes off and checks every single item and if there is a single item wrong or missing he hold the flight up until it gets fixed.

I have a feeling that you know very little about large company management.

Try looking here at the size of the company, its hub and secondary hubs, its subsiduary companies, its fleet of 168 aircraft, the fact that it has over 10,000 employes and tell everybody how one person can know everything that is happening and how things are being run.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirAsia

Wrong.

He is the bottom line as the CEO.

If that plane took off without permission, then the buck stops with him.

[krisb]

I know now I will never ever fly with this airline again.

Why save a couple hundred dollars to risk flying with anything less than a 5 star airline.

[outboard]

this is the first fatal accident Airasia has had.

they had authority to fly (refer to my earlier post).

Tony Fernandez is not responsible for everything a company he owns does.

The reason to fly with a budget airline over a "5 star airline" is that I don't need 50kg baggage allowance, 3 meals , nor unlimited drinks, nor do I need a cabin crew/passenger ratio as good as most 5 star restaurants and for the distances I travel on them I don't need the extra 3" of leg room i also don't need the hot towel when we take off or a toiletry bag full of crap and this is where the savings are actually coming from so I happily save the money by not paying for things I don't need or want.

Where are people getting the idea that modern day budget airlines are hiring Bangkok taxi drivers to fly planes?

[billd766]

Tony Fernandes the CEO, you'd think his head would be on the chopping block now.

Not short of a dollar either it seems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Fernandes

Why would his head be on the chopping block?

Well ultimately he is responsible if that plane was not meant to be flying.

Indonesia said it didn't have permission to fly that day but Singapore said it did. If it was not permitted to fly then why did Indonesia not simply refuse the permission for the flight.

Do you think that Tony Fernandes goes around checking every single thing before a flight takes off.

If the airline were givien permission to fly or not fly then the negotiations would be done by Air Asia and the Aviation authorities in Indonesia and not by Tony Fernandes who is based elsewhere.

To follow your line of thinking, every CEO of every airline is responsible for everything that happens with that airline, even down to not enough packets of nuts or the wrong meals being delivered to an aircraft 10,000 km away. That is the reason for layers of management but only one CEO. Whilst he may make policy together with the directors they don't carry it out. Line managers and in country managers are responsible for the day to day routine tasking and operations.

[Credo]

Is this one of those situations like where bars and discos don't have permission to operate in Thailand, but do?

[KhaoNiaw]

I can't see how any of this would be the airline's fault. They are simply operating under the conditions that they have to. They don't set the conditions and they can't just send their planes up when they feel like it. There surely must be multiple levels of authorization required to operate commercial flights from use of airport facilities to flight control. If the system is such that airlines have to operate without the proper licences and permits being issued, I suppose it is tacitly acknowledged that's how the system works and they just get on with it.

[draftvader]

Off-topic posts removed. Please can we steer clear of ticket prices and discuss the topic.

[Lukecan]

Not having a permit to fly on that day has nothing to do with this airplane going down.Theyre just trying to find an excuse for the crash.We wont know the real reason until the blackbox is recovered.

So what if it took off on a day that it didnt have a permit. I dont see that endangering lives. Lack of maintainance, pilot error etc brings down an airplane, not lack of adhering to some lame bureaucratic procedures!