Ministry admits aviation safety standards lax
Anissa S. Febrina, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Against the backdrop of a growing number of low-cost airlines and recent aviation accidents, the Ministry of Transportation acknowledged the lack of proper attention from the operators of airlines and airports, as well as the ministry itself as the regulator, to international aviation safety standards.
The ministry's director general of air transportation M. Iksan Tatang said on Tuesday that the ministry was in the process of tightening up its audit procedures for the airline industry, including monitoring maintenance workshops, in an effort to minimize accidents in the future.
However, he said the ministry had yet to take resolute action against those violating the standards, with most punishments consisting merely of administrative sanctions.
"We are trying not to look back but instead move ahead by tightening supervision," he said.
Since the government deregulated the aviation sector in 1999, the number of air passengers looks likely to double to 25 million this year from 12.5 million in 2003.
Data from the transportation ministry shows that currently 28 national airlines are operating with 414 aircraft.
To attract more passengers, the airline operators have been engaged in a fares war for the past year, giving rise to worries that they might compromise on maintenance to reduce costs.
"The transportation ministry and stakeholders must get back on the right track in following all the international safety procedures. There should be no compromises on safety," airline observer Dudi Sudibyo said on Tuesday.
Dudi said the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) should also revise some of its conclusions about an accident involving a Lion Air plane in Surakarta, Central Java, about a year ago. He said that several regulations -- including the standard amount of fuel pumped into the aircraft before take-off -- had not been evaluated.
"There should be enough fuel for planes to circle when an emergency occurs, such as in the case of the Surakarta accident," Dudi said.
On Nov. 30, 2004, a Lion Air McDonnel Douglas MD-82 skidded off the rain-soaked runway at Adi Sumarmo International Airport in Surakarta, killing 26 people and severely injuring 56 others.
In its report on the accident, which was released in February, the NTSB said excess water on the runway following heavy rain had caused the plane to skid off the tarmac.
It also mentioned other factors that worsened the accident, such as a strong tail wind, a malfunctioning spoiler and reverser on the place, and the positioning of a concrete structure that the plane had crashed into.
NTSB chairman Setio Rahardjo has said that the results of the investigation are final and have been submitted to the transportation ministry.
The NTSB recommended regular assessments of runway friction and water levels as well as the regular calibration of airport anemometers and windsocks.
The accident prompted the transportation ministry to audit 23 international airports in the country. These audits revealed that 17 of the airports had problems related to runway rubber deposits on their touchdown areas, while some did not have the additional 500 meters of runway required as an extra safety measure.
Apart from carrying out the audits, the ministry issued Regulation No. 35/2005 in June that capped the maximum flight time for purchased aircraft at less than 50,000 total flight cycles, meaning airlines cannot buy planes of roughly more than 30 years old on average.
Even after the audits, accidents continued to take place, including the country's worst accident in eight years in Medan, North Sumatra, where a Mandala Airlines Boeing 737-200 crashed in a heavily populated area near Polonia Airport on Sept. 5. A total of 102 passengers on board and 47 people on the ground were killed while 15 passengers survived.
The latest incident took place on Tuesday morning at Soekarno- Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng where a Batavia Air Boeing 737-400, scheduled to fly to Medan, had to abort take-off due to a tire blowout.
Airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II spokesman M. Wasfan said that none of the aircraft's 179 passengers had been injured, and that the incident was now being investigated by the NTSB.