Indonesia AirAsia (QZ, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) has had its licence to operate the Surabaya to Singapore Changi route suspended by Indonesian officials in the wake of the crash of flight QZ8501 late last month which claimed the lives of all 155 passengers and 7 crew on board.
Indonesia’s Transport Ministry has also threatened to revoke the AirAsia's operating licence claiming the airline did not possess the requisite route authority to operate the flight on Sunday. They claim they had only assented to flights operating on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem," Djoko Murjatmodjo, director-general of air transport, told the AFP news agency. "We will carry out an audit or an evaluation on all airlines in Indonesia over whether there are any violations related to route, time and schedule."
However, the Singaporean Civil Aviation Authority (CAAS) has issued a conflicting statement claiming that while the budget carrier had been given the go-ahead to operate the route on a daily basis, it had only chosen to do so on a 4x weekly basis.
"On the Singapore end, Indonesia AirAsia had applied to operate a daily flight between Surabaya and Singapore for the Northern Winter Season from 26 October 2014 to 28 March 2015, arriving at Changi Airport at 8.30am and departing for Surabaya at 2.10pm. These daily flights were approved as there were available air traffic rights under the bilateral ASA and the slots at Changi Airport were available," the CAAS said.
"Indonesia AirAsia was operating the flight four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Airlines may adjust their flight frequencies in the course of a season in response to market demand or operational requirements."
The A320-200, PK-AXC (cn 3648), is believed to have crashed approximately 45minutes after departure from Juanda International Airport, Surabaya. The search for the dead as well as the aircraft's superstructure, is currently focussed on an area about 90 nautical miles off the coast of Borneo island, in the Java Sea.
Indonesia AirAsia, Lion Air (JT, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), KalStar Aviation (Berau) and Trigana Air Service (IL, Jakarta Halim) have also been asked to adjust frequencies on other routes from Surabaya and Medan Kuala Namu following an audit by local airport authorities comparing current flight schedules to permits issued.
