Indonesia AirAsia concedes 'administrative negligence' in QZ8501 route change

KUALA LUMPUR — Indonesia AirAsia has admitted that it committed "administrative negligence" when it added a Sunday flight to its Surabaya-Singapore service, coincidentally the same addition in which it lost Flight QZ8501.

Testifying during an Indonesian House of Representatives hearing yesterday (Jan 13) on the crash, Indonesia AirAsia president Sunu Widyatmoko conceded that the airline had not formally informed the Transport Ministry that it was adding the fifth day of service.

He also agreed the airline was only permitted to fly the route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

"I admitted that administrative negligence occurred when requesting the change in flight schedule, as the verbal information failed to reach the ministry," Mr Sunu was quoted as saying by Indonesian news portal The Jakarta Post.

"We will take this as a correction."

Shortly after the crash, Indonesian authorities said the airline had not been authorised to fly on that particular day. This was contested by Singapore, which said the flight had the necessary bilateral permissions.

AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes also said the airline has permission to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route seven days a week, instead of only four as claimed by Indonesia.

QZ8501, a six-year-old Airbus A320 operated by AirAsia’s Indonesian affiliate, was on a routine commercial flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore, with 162 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 air control centre in Indonesia approved the request, the plane had disappeared from the radar.

Searchers have since recovered the plane’s two data recorders and recovered 48 bodies, and are continuing to look for the remaining victims as well as the rest of the wreckage. THE MALAY MAIL ONLINE