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Jakarta’s air traffic controllers reassigned over safety concerns

JAKARTA — A dispute between Jakarta’s air traffic controllers and a state run air navigation company over how their high workload has compromised civil aviation safety escalated on Thursday (July 27), with a number of controllers being reassigned.

The Indonesian Air Traffic Controllers Association noted that the 84 hourly take-offs and landings were beyond the airport’s handling capacity, adding that it violates an instruction from the transport ministry, which caps the use of the airport’s runways at 74 aircraft per hour and four irregular flights for emergencies. Photo: Bloomberg

The Indonesian Air Traffic Controllers Association noted that the 84 hourly take-offs and landings were beyond the airport’s handling capacity, adding that it violates an instruction from the transport ministry, which caps the use of the airport’s runways at 74 aircraft per hour and four irregular flights for emergencies. Photo: Bloomberg

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JAKARTA — A dispute between Jakarta’s air traffic controllers and a state run air navigation company over how their high workload has compromised civil aviation safety escalated on Thursday (July 27), with a number of controllers being reassigned.

Indonesian Air Traffic Controllers Association (IATCA) Jakarta branch deputy chair Andre Budi said: “We are transferred to various regions.”

The association’s Jakarta branch chairman Ahmad Zakaria said he regretted the administrative sanctions. “This harms our efforts and commitment in improving the quality of Indonesian aviation safety,” he stated in a release.

Mr Zakaria added it is ironic that the controllers’ “professionalism and efforts to remind the management and the government of potential aviation safety hazards have resulted in sanctions”.

A day earlier, IATCA revealed that state-run air navigation company AirNav regularly allows 84 take-offs and landings per hour at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, as was the case during the recent Hari Raya Puasa holidays.
“By allowing this, the chance of an accident will increase and air traffic controllers will be the ones who are blamed,” Mr Budi had said.

The group noted that the 84 hourly take-offs and landings were beyond the airport’s handling capacity, adding that it violates an instruction from the transport ministry, which caps the use of the airport’s runways at 74 aircraft per hour and four irregular flights for emergencies.

IATCA also accused AirNav of intimidating air traffic controllers by inviting military personnel to monitor their work.

On Thursday, the transport ministry said it has increased maximum flight frequency at Soekarno-Hatta to 81 take-offs and landings per hour to accommodate increasing demand from aviation companies.

Changi Airport handles about 40 hourly take-offs and landings. Both Changi and Soekarno-Hatta have two runways.

Civil aviation in Indonesia has come under the spotlight, with two Indonesian passenger planes involved in a near collision last month at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. It was the second such incident in three months.

Garuda Indonesia’s Flight GA425 from Denpasar was into its final approach when it had to abort its landing. This was because Sriwijaya Air’s Flight SJ580, which was scheduled to depart for Makassar, was still on the runway.

A similar incident took place at Soekarno-Hatta in April, and it involved Garuda Indonesia and Sriwijaya Air planes as well.

A Garuda aircraft was flying in from Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, and it nearly landed on a runway where another plane operated by Sriwijaya Air was preparing for take-off.

Last year, two Lion Air planes collided on the ground at Soekarno-Hatta. No injuries were reported.

There was also an incident of passengers on a flight from Singapore being ferried to the wrong terminal upon arrival in Jakarta, bypassing immigration.

Soekarno-Hatta is one of the busiest airports in South-east Asia, serving more than 55 million passengers last year, with 1,200 flights per day.

Indonesia’s aviation market has grown by double digits in the past 10 years following the appearance of several low-cost carriers that have made air transportation more affordable.

Jakarta is seeking to reclaim control of the Flight Information Region (FIR) above the Riau Islands from Singapore. The FIR around Riau has hitherto been controlled by Singaporean air traffic controllers.

Singapore has said that the FIR is not an issue of sovereignty, but of the safety and efficiency of commercial air traffic. AGENCIES

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