The Indonesian Ministry of Transport has given thirteen of the country's carriers until the end of the month to improve their financial standings or risk revocation of their operator's licences.
The carriers affected include: Indonesia AirAsia (QZ, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), Batik Air (ID, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) (part of the Lion Group), Cardigair (7D, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), Transwisata Air (TWT, Jakarta Halim), EastIndo (ESD, Jakarta Halim), Survai Udara Penas (Jakarta Halim), Air Pacific (Indonesia) (Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), Jhonlin Air Transport (JLB, Banjarmasin), Asialink Cargo Express (Batam), Ersa Eastern Aviation (Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), Tri-M.G. Intra Asia Airlines (Jakarta Halim), Nusantara Buena Air (Medan Soewondo), and Manunggal Air (Jakarta Halim).
Minister of Transport Ignasius Jonan told the Jakarta Post that the affected airlines were found to be in a state of negative equity (the value of an asset used to secure a loan is less than the outstanding balance on the loan) ranging from IDR10 billion (USD751,879) into 'trillions of Rupiah.'
As such, Jonan said the poor state of finances had lead to concerns about the quality of safety oversights at the affected airlines adding that they had been given until July 31 to restructure their capital on pain of sanctions.
Jakarta recently promulgated a new law - No. 45/2015 - which defines the minimum prescribed capital airlines operating with various capacities must have. Under the legislation, scheduled airlines operating planes with a capacity of 70 seats or more are required to have a paid-up capital of at least IDR500 billion (USD37.5 million) while those with aircraft with 30 seats or less must have a paid-up capital of at least IDR300 billion (USD22.5 million). Cargo operators are required to be capitalized to at least IDR100 billion (USD7.5 million).
