he House of Representatives has called on Lion Air to drop its lawsuit against a Transportation Ministry official for imposing sanctions on the airline, saying it would be the public that was most affected.
Lion Air had reported general director for air transportation Suprasetyo to the police's Criminal Investigation Department on May 16 and planned to lodge a lawsuit against him, after the government imposed two punitive sanction on the airline, owned by a National Awakening Party politician Rusdi Kirana.
Lasarus, deputy chairman of House Commission V overseeing infrastructure and transportation, said the case should not be brought to court as the sanction was part of the government’s effort to discipline the airline, the services of which are vital to the public.
"If the sanctions contravene the rules, we would surely agree with you. But the government only wants to make Lion Air improve the quality of its service. Please normalize the situation as it is the public that will be impacted," he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Lion Air president director Edward Sirait said the lawsuit was not a sign of defiance but an effort to seek fairness. He argued that the sanction was imposed without thorough investigation. On May 10, the government barred the airline from opening new routes for six months due to the massive delays caused by a pilots' strike.
"Please do not assume that we are against the government. We only want to determine whether the sanction is appropriate," he said.
He denied that there had been mismanagement in relation to employees' salaries and delays in paying pilots’ allowances. He said he had suspicions that some pilots may have incited other pilots to go on strike recently, which led to delays in flights.
"If there are differences in their take-home pay, it is because of performance. The basic remuneration is the same. I prefer calling the May 10 incident [pilot] malpractice, not a demonstration, because they abandoned their duties," Edward said.
A day after Lion Air lodged the report to the Police, the Transportation Ministry suspended Lion Group's ground-handling permit at Soekarno-Hatta airport on May 17. The sanction was imposed after the airline mistakenly transferring international flight passengers to a domestic terminal, which led to several foreigners initially skipping immigration checks.
Despite the ground-handling permit suspension, Edward has reassured that services will remain available to passengers, explaining that the airline would handle ground-handling operations itself. "An airline has the right to handle it itself. It is legal," he said.
House Commission V will bring the issue to a working meeting with the Transportation Ministry soon and issue a binding recommendation after a thorough investigation into the case.
"We notice that there will be an investigation launched to check whether there were management failures. The current recommendation is temporary and we will arrange for a binding recommendation after the investigation," said Commission V chairman Fari Djemy Francis. (ags)
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