Airport need certification to ensure safety: INACA
Airport need certification to ensure safety: INACA
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government needs to better regulate airports to ensure their
safety, the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA)
says after finishing a study of five airports in the country.
Most of the five airports surveyed had safety problems, INACA
secretary general Tengku Burhanuddin said.
INACA conducted surveys at the Sepinggan Airport in
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan; Ngurah Rai International Airport in
Denpasar; Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar, South
Sulawesi; Supadio Airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan; and
Polonia Airport in Medan, North Sumatra.
The survey reveals that most safety problems occur on the
airports' runways. Problems include a lack of runway friction,
the presence of obstacles or foreign objects on the strip and
insufficient end-safety areas. There are also problems regarding
regular security checks, the survey says.
"The government must issue airport safety certificates to
inform the public about whether the airport has or hasn't met the
standard," Burhanuddin said.
However, Ministry of Transportation director-general of air
transportation Cucuk Suryo Suprodjo said there was already a
safety certification process for airports. The ministry carried
out evaluations on technical and operational systems once a year,
he said.
"We have always checked the airport's navigation system,
telecommunications, runway conditions and other things annually,"
he said. This evaluation usually took place before peak flying
seasons like the Idul Fitri holiday period, he said.
Cucuk said the ministry had always provided its
recommendations to airport operator PT Angkasa Pura.
The ministry conducted a safety audit 23 on airports in the
country following a Lion Air aircraft plane crash at the Adi
Sumarmo International Airport in Surakarta last year in which 26
people died and 56 others were injured.
The Boeing MD-82 plane skidded off the slippery runway while
landing at the airport on Nov. 30, crashing into a cemetery.
Seventeen of the audited airports -- including Adi Sumarmo
airport -- had problems with rubber deposits on their touchdown
areas, while 12 of the 23 airports did not have the additional
500 meters of runway required as an additional safety measure.
The ministry has issued orders to upgrades of these airports.
Other problems found to be affecting airport runways were
water accumulation, cracks, and faded runway markings.
The only airport given a completely clean bill of health was
Pattimura International Airport in Ambon, Maluku.