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irlines have improved their debt positions by turning around their negative equity to positive, staving off the possible suspension of flight permits by the Transportation Ministry.

'€œAll of the at-risk airlines are positive now, except for some that still fail to meet minimum fleet requirements,'€ the ministry'€™s director general for air transportation, Suprasetyo, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday evening.

The problematic airlines are Indonesia AirAsia, Cardig Air, Tri-MG Intra Asia, Air Pasifik Utama, Ersa Eastern Aviation, Eastindo Services, Asialink Cargo Airlines, Jhonlin Air Transport, Transwisata Prima Aviation, Hevilift Aviation Indonesia and Asian One Air.

A review by the Transportation Ministry concluded that 17 scheduled airlines have fulfilled the equity and fleet requirements in the country.

After the review, Tri-MG Intra Asia had its chartered flight permit temporarily suspended for a month, until it can add one more aircraft to fulfill the requirement of having three aircraft, with at least one owned aircraft, as stipulated in the 2009 Aviation Law.

Meanwhile, the long-haul low-fare subsidiary of AirAsia Group, PT Indonesia Air Asia X, which previously lacked the minimum requirement of 10 aircraft for commercial scheduled airlines, has also achieved compliance.

The company, according to an official statement, has added eight more aircraft to its fleet, bringing its total to 10 aircraft.

Suprasetyo also said that the other low-cost associate carrier of AirAsia Group, PT Indonesia Air Asia (IAA), would not merge with PT Indonesia Air Asia X in a bid to improve its equity position, as previously
reported.

The company has converted its short-term loan to perpetual securities or bonds with no maturity date, which are classified as equity according to the financial accounting standards (PSAK).

'€œWe have fundamentally fulfilled regulatory requirements to turn our equity positive,'€ IAA president director Sunu Widyatmoko said in the company'€™s official statement.

The ministry previously required at-risk airlines to provide proof of equity turnaround measures by Sept. 30. Had they failed to provide such documentation, the ministry would have carried out a thorough review of their whole business plans, operations and airworthiness. The ministry also threatened to revoke their air operator certificates (AOC) if the review had yielded unsatisfactory results.

The government has highlighted its concern for safety standards at airline companies that had a negative equity position, which occurs when the value of an asset used to secure a loan is less than the outstanding loan.

The ministry has so far revoked the AOCs of six airlines, including Nusantara Buana Air, Manunggal Air and Survai Udara Penas, which failed to fulfill the minimum plane requirement as well as having negative equity. (fsu)