he Transportation Ministry has sent warnings to the country’s biggest low-cost carrier Lion Air and state-owned low-cost carrier Citilink for a lack of enforcement of standard operating procedure (SOP) for its flight crew.
The warning was sent following an incident involving an allegedly drunk Citilink pilot.
The ministry’s director general for air transportation Suprasetyo said that from its investigation into the incident last week, Citilink was found to have not given the pilot a pre-flight medical check or a pre-departure briefing.
The investigation revealed that passengers were also allowed to board the aircraft without the presence of the entire cabin crew.
“For Citilink, the air crews also check their own health, while the proper procedure is to have a medical expert to do this. We have sent a warning to Citilink,” he said recently.
Meanwhile, Lion Air was found to conduct random alcohol tests for its crew members. “We also asked Lion to not only conduct these tests randomly, but for the entire air crew,” he said.
Suprasetyo stated that the companies could potentially have their air operator certificates (AOC) revoked if there were repeated violations.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi stated that the airlines would be given a month to improve SOP enforcement.
“There is an SOP, but we give airlines the authority to draft their own SOPs,” he said. (bbn)
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