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recent strike staged by Lion Air pilots has opened the lid on the previously closed box of the woes of local airline pilots.

Twenty-two year old Anggi Tayanza is not a frequent user of Lion Air, but his last two flights with them, both in 2015, were marred by horrendous moments. On one occasion, he had to wait for over five hours for his flight from Jakarta to his hometown of Bengkulu.

Meanwhile, 43-year-old doctor Tri Saputra said on Sunday he frequently used Lion Air because of its low fares compared with other carriers. “I couldn’t afford the price of seven tickets [for wife and five children] if it was not with Lion,” Tri said, chuckling.

Flight delays have spoiled a number of Tri’s flights with the carrier as well. Last year, he was forced to wait for around five hours for a flight from Jakarta to Jambi.

Flight delays, a poor safety record and breaches of aviation standards have landed Lion Air, the country’s largest low-cost carrier, in hot water several times. In February last year, hundreds of passengers ran amok at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, frustrated by numerous delays to their flights.

On May 10, the airline also made headlines for passenger mishandling at Soekarno-Hatta and widespread flight delays in several airports caused by a walkout by 300 Lion Air pilots. The latter incident led the Transportation Ministry to ban Lion Air from launching new domestic routes for five months.

On Aug. 3, the airline’s management announced that it had laid off 14 pilots considered to be behind the strike, including Eki Andriansjah, the leader of the Lion Air pilot union (SP-APLG). The management has also chosen to sideline the SP-APLG.

It has also reported the pilots to the National Police’s Criminal Investigations Unit, accusing them of defamation, which carries a maximum sentence of nine months behind bars according to Article 310 of the Criminal Code.

The pilots’ lawyer, Oky Wiratama, said on Sunday that the company’s move to dismiss her clients was illegal because of a lack of dismissal letters issued to the laid-off pilots. She said the airline provided no rationale for the move.

Oky, who is a public lawyer with the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta), said she was mulling whether to report Lion Air to the police for alleged union busting and for purportedly criminalizing her clients without legal basis.

In a separate statement, Lion Air said the management regretted news that highlighted the alleged disharmonious relations between the management and pilots. It said pilots were bound by a working agreement and that the strike was a violation of that agreement. In the wake of escalating conflict, the Indonesian Pilot Association (IPI) claims that the problems of pilot rights are widespread and involve more than just one airline.

The IPI estimates that up to 60 percent of the 8,000 currently licensed pilots in Indonesia are working under temporary working contracts, rather than being permanent employees of the airlines.

“There are pilots who have worked for 18 years under just working contracts [not as permanent employees], with enormous penalties [if they resign],” IPI first chairman Captain Rama Valerino Noya told the press on Monday.

It claims such practices contravene the Labor Law. The law stipulates that a working contract can only apply for three years, after which a person should either be promoted as a permanent employee or discharged.

The association also says that many pilots work more hours than stipulated in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) regulations. “We’re really asking for the Transportation Ministry to closely monitor airline practice on pilot working hours,” IPI founder Captain Rudolf Albert Rooroh said. (mos)