Off the wire
• China Headlines: How is the Chinese Dream changing the world? (1)  • Hundreds gather in nothern Texas to protest white policeman's brutality  • 1st LD: At least 9 killed in twin suicide bombings in Iraq's Anbar  • Indian stocks ends marginally lower  • New Analysis: 16-point deal among political parties ensures promulgation of new constitution in Nepal  • 1st LD: 11 get death penalty in Egypt over deadly soccer riot  • Vietnam warns of MERS for overseas workers  • Soaring lawsuits test Chinese judges  • UN chief in Tajikistan to attend int'l water conference  • Kenyan investors urge EAC to implement common market protocol  
You are here: 　 Home

Indonesia lifts operational permit for 16 airliners

Xinhua, June 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Indonesian transport ministry has revoked operational permits or air operator certificates (AOC) of 16 airliners operating in the country, which went into effect in February as they failed to comply with safety standard, a senior official said here on Tuesday.

Indonesia, a fast growing aviation market, has stepped up monitoring and surveillance on air transport safety following the tragedy of the AirAsia plane crash in Indonesian waters in December 2014 that killed all 162 people on board.

Muzafar Ismail, director of airworthiness and flight operation of the transport ministry, said that the lifting of the permits were conducted after the ministry suspended the license following three times of warnings to the airliners to meet their obligation.

"We have given them warning until 3 times and then we suspended their license before we revoke them," he said at the transport ministry.

Ismail refused to elaborate on the name of the airliners.

The director said that one of the safety aspects failed to be met by the airliners was the sufficiency of human resources or personal.

"Should there be a trouble in a plane, who will evaluate and maintain it if the airline lacks of personal?" he said.

Indonesia has paid serious attention to aviation safety standards as the country had suffered from a series of air accidents years ago and the European Union imposed a travel ban on many Indonesian airliners in 2007, many of them are budget airliners.

The EU travel ban was lifted two years later as safety standards of Indonesian airliners improved.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago country with a population of over 238 million and a growing middle class, is a potential market for budget airline industry as the government puts a priority to building air transportation to connect over the country's 17,500 islands. Endi