Govt may revoke licenses for nine new airlines

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Ministry of Transportation may revoke the operating permits held by nine local new airlines for missing their launch deadlines.

Director of air transportation at the Ministry of Transportation Santoso Eddy Wibowo said that the airlines had missed their deadlines due to various problems, including a failure to strike deals with investors who were willing to finance their operations.

Under the current regulations, an airline must operate within 12 months of the issuance of its permits.

"Maybe they have had to look for new investors because their initial investors have withdrawn," Santoso told The Jakarta Post on Monday, adding his office had sent letters to the airlines warning them to start operating.

The nine airlines include four scheduled and five unscheduled commercial airlines.

Data from the directorate general of air transportation says the four scheduled commercial airlines are Internusa Air, Asia Avia Megatama, Satrio Mataram Airlines and Alatief Alair International.

The five unscheduled commercial airline are Multimoda Transportindo, Bali Adventure Sky, Papua Air Indonesia, Pura Wisata Baruna and Rabin Global Air Servindo.

They are among the 26 scheduled and 45 unscheduled airline companies that have obtained a business license from the ministry.

Santoso doubted if the permit holders, who were thus far unable to bring in investors, would be able to do so in the near future, given the impact of the terrorist attack in Bali over two weeks ago.

He said the Bali bombing has raised Indonesia's country risks, further discouraging investors from entering Indonesia.

"It (the Bali bombing) has affected the level of trust of investors toward Indonesia, including those who want to lease their airplanes to companies in Indonesia," he said.

Most local airlines lease airplanes from foreign companies for their operations.

If a local airline fails to meet its launch deadline, the government will send it three written warnings at intervals of one month.

Should an airline be unable to start operations, the government can freeze its licenses, followed by revocation.

List of new airlines received warnings

Unscheduled commercial airlines: PT Multimoda Transportindo, PT Bali Adventure Sky, PT Papua Air Indonesia, PT Pura Wisata Baruna, PT Rabin Global Air Servindo.

Scheduled commercial airlines: PT Internusa Air, PT Asia Avia Megatama, PT Satrio Mataram Airlines, PT Alatief Alair Internasional.