AirAsia QZ8501: Airline admits flight route change was only verbal

JAKARTA: Indonesia AirAsia says it committed an administrative error when requesting a change in its Surabaya-Singapore flight schedule, The Jakarta Post reported.

Speaking on Tuesday regarding the crash of flight QZ8501 at the first hearing with House of Representatives Commission V on transportation, AirAsia president director Sunu Widyatmoko said based on the flight permit issued by the ministry, the airline was allowed to fly four days a week on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The low-cost carrier later verbally requested a change in schedule to fly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays to the ministry’s directorate general of air transportation.

“I admitted that administrative negligence occurred when requesting the change in flight schedule, as the verbal information failed to reach the ministry,” Sunu said. “We will take this as a correction,” he added.

Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 crashed on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014, killing 162 passengers and crew.

The hearing on Tuesday, however, was not attended by Indonesian Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan, who had flown to Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan where search and rescue operations have been ongoing for 16 days. His absence drew criticism from House members.

House Commission V head Fary Djemi Francis said the minister was required to attend to clarify information gathered during the hearing.

“The fact is that the flight took off. AirAsia said it had verbally requested a change in flight schedule. Is that according to the law?” Fary said.

“The ministry’s directorate general for air transportation is responsible for this,” he continued.

Despite Jonan’s absence, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) chief Air Marshall FH Bambang Soelistyo and officials from the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) delivered their reports to the commission.

Separately, Golkar Party politician Muhidin said Jonan’s decision to increase the floor price of scheduled low-cost carriers following the crash had also sparked confusion among the public, and the minister should have attended with a comprehensive explanation of his decision.

In response to the increase in floor price for low-cost airlines to 40% of the maximum price from the previous 30%, Sunu said the carrier did not cut its safety budget to maintain the airline’s low operational costs.

He also rejected allegations that the pilot of the aircraft was not in possession of a weather report from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) prior to taking off from Surabaya to Singapore on Dec. 28.

“On weather reports, we have emails that are automatically forwarded to our pilots,” said Sunu, adding that the airline also had an “email blast system” that automatically updated weather information every six hours.

Jonan had previously accused the pilots of flight QZ8501 of failing to obtain a required weather report from the BMKG.

Last week, the minister also froze 61 flights of five airlines that were found to be flying without proper permits and suspended or transferred at least 11 aviation officials at the ministry for their alleged involvement in allowing the airlines to take off. – The Jakarta Post/ANN