Indonesia suspends aviation officials

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesian authorities on Monday levied the first punishments stemming from the AirAsia plane crash, suspending officials connected to the airline’s alleged flight schedule violation as the search for wreckage continued in the Java Sea.

Officials have said that Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 was not authorized to fly on Sundays, as it did Dec. 28 when it went down in the Java Sea en route to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia. The airline has been barred from flying that route while an investigation takes place.

The acting director-general for air transport, Djoko Murjatmodjo, said all transport ministry and Surabaya airport officials involved in the unauthorized flight schedule would be suspended.

While there are no indications that the alleged schedule violation was connected to the crash, which is believed to have killed all 162 people aboard the flight, Djoko said authorities were conducting an audit of all flight schedules.

In comments that lay bare long-standing concerns about Indonesia’s nascent aviation sector, Djoko raised the possibility that other airlines, too, could be flying without the required agreements or permits.

“AirAsia was clearly in the wrong because their flight schedules did not conform to the agreement,” Djoko said.

“Now we suspect that other airlines are making the same mistakes. If an investigation reveals violations, we will suspend their routes too.”

Since being deregulated in the 1990s, Indonesia’s aviation sector has been dogged by accidents and safety concerns that prompted the European Union to impose a temporary ban on Indonesian airlines entering its airspace.