Flight 8501: Indonesia continues crackdown on airline operations

Indonesia is further restricting the operations of airlines as a crackdown continues on administrative irregularities in the wake of the crash of AirAsia Indonesia Flight 8501.

The Transportation Ministry has conducted a weeklong audit at five main airports, suspending flights from airlines including AirAsia Indonesia that lack permits to fly on their currently scheduled days.

Last week, the ministry suspended four weekly AirAsia flights from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, to Singapore after it discovered the airline was flying on days for which it lacked permits, including on the Sunday of the AirAsia crash with 162 people on board.

Since then, several other airlines have had flights delayed at the Surabaya airport for the same reason, including Lion Air, the nation's largest low-cost carrier.

Three of AirAsia's weekly flights to Singapore from a second city, Bandung, were also suspended this week.

Citilink Indonesia, the low-cost carrier of flagship airline Garuda Indonesia, cancelled flights between Jakarta and Medan, in northern Sumatra, affecting 2200 people, because it lacked permits for the flights.

Citilink's vice president for corporate communications, Benny Butarbutar, says the airline has since complied with government regulations and is awaiting issuance of new flight permits.

The ministry is also due to announce whether it will take action against more of its officials after two were suspended this week relating to permit issues.

AirAsia says it’s is working with Indonesian authorities to align schedules and reopen suspended routes, while Lion Air says its activities have returned to normal.

The lack of permits isn’t a factor in the AirAsia crash in the Java Sea on December 28 but has prompted the ministry to introduce new rules on pilot briefings about weather.

It has also signed a regulation that it said was already in the works to raise the minimum price of domestic flights for safety reasons.

The ministry says raising the minimum price of flights would allow airlines to put more money toward safety measures, such as training technicians.

Meanwhile, divers searching the wreckage of Flight 8501 have been unable to find the plane's black box recorders or more bodies of victims as bad weather cut short the efforts.

However, they have found the tail section of the Airbus A320 and hope the fuselage won’t be far way. Indonesian officials say they will bring in heavy equipment to raise the tail.