At a press conference on Friday (09/01), Indonesia’s Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan announced that flight schedule violations have been rife in Indonesia. After preliminary research the Transportation Ministry concluded that a total of 61 domestic flights (conducted by fiveIndonesian airlines) lack approval to operate these routes from the Transportation Ministry. Apart from the five airlines, these violations also involve authorities at five airports: Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (nearby Jakarta), Kuala Namu International Airport (North Sumatra), Juanda International Airport (East Java), Ngurah Rai International Airport (Bali), and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport (South Sulawesi).

Flight Schedule Violations Indonesia:

Involved Airline       Number of Flight
    Schedule Violations
Lion Air              35 flights
Wings Air              18 flights
Garuda Indonesia               4 flights
Susi Air               3 flights
Trans Nusa                1 flight
Involved Airports Location
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport West Java
Kuala Namu International Airport North Sumatra
Juanda International Airport East Java
Ngurah Rai International Airport Bali
Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport South Sulawesi

Source: Antara News Agency

Jonan said that all these 61 flights have been suspended and airlines are required to file for the necessary permits first before flights can be resumed. The Minister did not mention any other sanctions besides the suspension of the flights.

Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry had started a jointly investigation together with Indonesia’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) after it became known that AirAsia Flight QZ8501 had been flying between Surabaya and Singapore illegally for two months. Although this violation is not directly related to the actual crash, it does provide another example of unprofessionalism or corrupt behaviour among Indonesia’s civil service. Although Indonesian governments in the post-Suharto era have emphasized their desire to curtail widespread corruption within the nation’s business and government circles, progress has been slow as corruption is more-or-less ‘institutionalized’ in Southeast Asia’s largest economy. In the past week, the flight schedule violation of AirAsia (Surabaya-Singapore route) has already led to the dismissal of seven people within the Transportation Ministry as wells as airport staff members.

Further Reading:

Analysis of Corruption in Indonesia
Indonesia’s Aviation Industry: AirAsia Crash Exposes Violations

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