Airlines support stricter safety regulations

Airlines support stricter safety regulations

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Airliners in the country say they are ready for a possible
tightening of the industry's safety regulations following the
crash of a Mandala Air Boeing-737, which killed 150 people in
Medan last week.

Many carriers talked by to The Jakarta Post pledged to upgrade
aging aircraft and continue to adhere to strict international
safety standards.

"Safety and maintenance have always been our No. 1 priority,"
president director of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia,
Emirsyah Satar, said last week.

"The main thing is that we keep our discipline following our
maintenance procedures."

Emirsyah said Garuda aircraft regularly underwent audits from
the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and by similar agencies
in from Japan and Korea.

The PT Mandala Airlines tragedy -- the country's worst airline
accident in eight years -- has prompted the Ministry of
Transportation to revise an industry safety regulation, requiring
airlines to limit their aircraft operations to a maximum of 30
years and 50,000 flight hours and increase random spot-checks of
planes and passenger manifests.

The modified regulation, which was issued in June and will
come into effect in December, had previously set the limit at 35
years and 70,000 flight hours.

Since the liberalization of the country's airline industry
several years ago, many airlines -- particularly budget carriers
-- have opted to lease used planes for their fleets to keep up
with fierce competition in the industry. Some observers fear that
aging aircraft, and scrimping on safety, coupled with poor
enforcement of airline security regulations could lead to
crashes.

Mandala's ill-fated Boeing 737-200 was 24 years old, however,
the National Transportation Safety Committee is still
investigating the exact cause of the accident.

Emirsyah said that next year Garuda planned to replace five
Boeing 737-300 aircraft it was currently leasing, with three of
the manufacturer's newer 737-800 series.

Garuda currently operates a total of 57 planes, the oldest
being 15 years of age. Aircraft maintenance accounts for some 20
percent of Garuda's Rp 10 trillion (US$979 million) annual
operational costs.

Meanwhile, PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines corporate secretary
Jaka Pujiyono told the Post Merpati also planned to upgrade 11
Boeing 737-200 aircraft in its 36-strong fleet.

Merpati had long scheduled the upgrade in its business plans
and it had nothing to do with the government's moves following
the accident, he said.

"The planes can actually (by law) be operated until 2010. We
will replace them because the newer planes would be more fuel-
efficient," he said, mentioning the recent surge in oil prices,
which have been hitting many airlines in the pocket.

Low-cost carriers assured the Post safety was their priority,
with an official of a popular budget airliner mentioning how all
the 36 aircraft his company operates were relatively new -- of
post-1989 production -- and properly maintained.

The official, who requested anonymity, strenuously denied
notions that budget carriers were sacrificing flight safety and
aircraft maintenance to keep their operational costs down. It was
impossible for airlines not to put fuel, aircraft maintenance and
hiring certified pilots above all else, as this was specified by
the industry's worldwide business practices.

"They amount to about half of an airliner's costs and they are
fixed costs which are nearly impossible to tinker with," he said.

"We keep our costs down by reducing the other half of our
costs -- the so-called commercial factor -- such as promotion and
expensive ticket registration systems."