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Ministry revokes three flight route permits of Lion, Batik Air
Poor service: Workers prepare a Lion Air B737-800 aircraft parked on the runway at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, on Aug
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Poor service: Workers prepare a Lion Air B737-800 aircraft parked on the runway at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, on Aug.19, 2015. The Transportation Ministry on Tuesday revoked the permits of three flight routes of low-cost carrier Lion Air and its full-service carrier, Batik Air, on account of several violations. (kompas.com/Yoga Sukmana) (kompas.com/Yoga Sukmana)
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span class="inline inline-center">Poor service: Workers prepare a Lion Air B737-800 aircraft parked on the runway at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, on Aug.19, 2015. The Transportation Ministry on Tuesday revoked the permits of three flight routes of low-cost carrier Lion Air and its full-service carrier, Batik Air, on account of several violations. (kompas.com/Yoga Sukmana)
The Transportation Ministry has withdrawn the permits of three flight routes of low-cost carrier Lion Air and its full-service carrier, Batik Air, as the route permits have not been used for 21 days in a row.
The two revoked Lion Air flight permits were for the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta to Juanda Airport, Surabaya (East Java) route and the Soekarno-Hatta to Kualanamu Airport, Medan (North Sumatra) route. Meanwhile, the revoked Batik Air flight permit was for the Halim Perdanakusumah Airport, Jakarta to Supadio Airport, Pontianak (West Kalimantan) route.
'We will revoke a flight route permit of an airline company if it does not use the permit for 21 days at a stretch,' the Transportation Ministry's air transportation director, Muzaffar Ismail, said as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He said the revocation of the Lion Air and Batik Air flight route permits was in line with the 2008 Transportation Ministry Regulation (Permenhub) on the organizing of air transportation.
Article 27(2) of the regulation stipulates that if an airline company does not operate its service on a flight route for 21 days in a row without giving any notification to the Transportation Ministry's directorate general of air transportation, the ministry will revoke the company's flight permit for the route.
'Lion Air can request permits for the flight routes again right after the revocation takes effect,' said Muzaffar.
He added that the Transportation Ministry revoked Lion Air's and Batik Air's flight route permits based on inspections conducted by the ministry's air transportation directorate inspectors. During the process, he added, the Transportation Ministry carried out examinations on airports and verified the violations commited by Lion Air.
'We have summoned the airline company authorities and showed data of all the violations we found,' said Muzaffar.
Lion Air is now facing sharp criticisms for allegedly applying low security procedures. On Monday, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport police arrested four Lion Air employees on suspicion of stealing passengers' possessions from luggage. The airline was also in the spotlight over severely delayed flights and the arrest of three crew members on drug charges in December last year. (ebf)(+)
