AirAsia had permit to fly the Surabaya-S’pore route: Fernandes
KUALA LUMPUR — AirAsia group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes insisted yesterday that flight QZ8501 had permission to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route seven days a week instead of only four as alleged by Indonesia.
In this Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014 file photo, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes walks upon arrival to visit the command center of the search operation for the victims of AirAsia Flight 8501 at the airport in Pangkalan Bun. Photo: AP
KUALA LUMPUR — AirAsia group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes insisted yesterday that flight QZ8501 had permission to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route seven days a week instead of only four as alleged by Indonesia.
In a statement, Mr Fernandes said what occurred on the day of the air crash was purely an administrative error. “We have the right to fly Surabaya-Singapore. We had flown that schedule and had rights for seven days a week. We have secured both slots as well as approval from both Indonesia and Singapore. What happened was purely an administrative error,” Mr Fernandes said in a statement emailed to Malay Mail Online.
In a report published on Kompas.com on Tuesday, Indonesia’s Transport Minister Ignasius Jonas was quoted as saying Mr Fernandes “had admitted AirAsia has no route permit”.
Flight QZ8501, a six-year-old Airbus A320 operated by AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate, was on a routine commercial flight with 162 people aboard when it crashed into the Java Sea off Borneo on Dec 28. It was reported that the pilot had requested to climb to a higher altitude to avoid a thunderstorm, but the request was met with a two-minute silence.
By the time the air control centre in Indonesia approved the request, the plane had disappeared from the radar.
Over the weekend, Indonesia also said it was probing all airlines to check if they were violating the terms of their route permits after the Republic’s Transport Ministry said AirAsia was not authorised to fly to Singapore the day its jetliner crashed into the Java Sea.
On Jan 2, Indonesia’s Transport Ministry suspended AirAsia’s flight permit for the Surabaya-Singapore route. Media reports said Mr Djoko Muratmodjo, acting general director for air navigation in the Transport Ministry, said AirAsia’s route will be suspended until investigations are completed. Yesterday, Mr Fernandes recommended that Indonesia emulate Singapore in using an integrated computerised system “so that everyone is on the same page”. THE MALAY MAIL
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