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AKARTA: Lion Air, an airline owned by Presidential Advisory Board (Wantimpres) member Rusdi Kirana, scored worst for delays during the Idul Fitri holiday period, Transportation Ministry data show.

The ministry’s director general of air transportation, Suprasetyo, named four airlines as the worst performers in punctuality, with severe flight delays mainly blamed on operational reasons.

“First: Lion Air, second: Kalstar Aviation, third: NAM Air and fourth: Travel Express […] As flight schedules got clogged, they decided to delay several flights to the following day, as the destination airports had been closed,” he said at his office in Jakarta on Wednesday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Aside from that, he explained there had been engine problems with several planes, forcing them to remain grounded. “Thus, they had to wait for replacement aircraft. It is good they spotted the damage early, but nevertheless it led to delays,” Suprasetyo said.

On the opposite end, the ministry’s data show that Garuda Indonesia was the best airline in terms of on-time performance (OTP) during Idul Fitri, with a score of 97 percent. Suprasetyo explained Indonesian airlines’ average OTP was above 95 percent during the Idul Fitri holiday. — JP