Unclear Flight Approval

Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan said that AirAsia flight QZ8501 that crashed enroute from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday, December 28, was flying illegally. The air transport director general only approved the budget carrier to fly on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. So why did the plane fly that Sunday morning? Who gave the approval? According to the Transportation Minister regulation, an aircraft can fly only after obtaining a flight approval from the directorate general of air transport.

The commotion over AirAsia's flight approval reinforces the result of an audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in May 2014, which showed that Indonesia's aviation industry is full of elements that do not conform to international standards. A number of officials and former officials in the Transportation Ministry even admitted that bribery and kickbacks are rampant in this sector, make worse the already disorganized problem over slots and flight approvals.