Transportation Ministry Suspends Kalstar Aviation
Jakarta. The Ministry of Transportation suspended the operations of Kalstar Aviation, a small airline based in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, on Saturday (30/09), for its failure to meet the technical and financial standards.
The decision affects all flights operated by the carrier: Surabaya-Pangkalanbun, Pangkalanbun-Ketapang, Ketapang-Pontianak and Samarinda-Berau.
"We give Kalstar Aviation an opportunity to improve itself in order to survive in the future. We stopped the operations so that they get better," the director general of air transportation at the ministry, Agus Santoso, said over the weekend.
Agus said Kalstar is given all the time it needs to meet the standards. The ministry however did not disclose details of the requirements.
For the airline, it is the second time in two years that it needs to shut down its fight routes. Kalstar had to give up two routes in May 2016, after the ministry revoked its license to operate them due to service failures.
Agus said Kalstar management is working on the airline's recovery, and among its top priorities is now to compensate passengers who had booked seats on the cancelled flights.
"No passenger will be abandoned," he said.
The ministry asked other airlines to fill Kalstar's flight slots for the sake of customers, but so far no one has declared their interest.
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