Garuda and Adam Air rubber stamped

The two Indonesian commercial airlines responsible for the country’s most recent air disasters have had their safety ratings upgraded after a three-month government safety audit.
Budhi Suyitno, director-general of aviation in the Transport Department, described as an “excellent effort” the improved compliance of most operators after several were warned three months ago they risked losing their operating licences.

The new ratings fly in the face of many assessments of the country’s appalling aviation safety standards.

Garuda, the carrier whose passenger jet crashed on landing in the central Java city of Yogyakarta in March, killing 21 people including five Australians, has now been put in the top tier of a three-category safety rating system.

The rating system is based on assessments of maintenance procedures and mandatory safety standards applicable across the aviation industry internationally.

Adam Air, which lost a Boeing 737-400 passenger jet on New Year’s Day over the central island of Sulawesi and has had several other incidents in recent years, was elevated from category three to category two.

Had it remained in the former category, the operator, which was founded by the country’s parliamentary Speaker, Agung Laksono, would have had its licence frozen.

One commercial airline that suffered that fate was the small operator Jatayu, which, along with a handful of charter companies, will now not be allowed to trade untilminimum training, certification and maintenance requirements are met.

Indonesia’s Transport Department has been under intense pressure to improve its safety record after a series of disasters not restricted to air incidents. Several passenger ferry catastrophes early in the year resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives.

Human resources remained a problem across the sector, Mr Suyitno said. “It’s difficult to retain key personnel. Airlines experience difficulties finding pilots and technicians suitable for the particular kinds of planes,” he said.

But the head of the Indonesian Pilots’ Association, Stefanus Geraldus, said it was unfair to only target pilots in any safety assessment. He insisted that industry compliance had noticeably increased in recent months as a result of government crackdowns.