Indonesia to Evaluate All Airlines Following AirAsia License Questions
Jakarta. Indonesia pledged Saturday to investigate flight violations by AirAsia, as search teams found two 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.
"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," director general of air transport, Djoko Murjatmodjo, told AFP.
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.
"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem," he said.
A statement from 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.
It was unclear how the airline, a unit of Malaysia-based AirAsia, had been able to fly without the necessary authorisation.
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."
Agence France-Presse
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