Nearly a month after the AirAsia flight disaster,
Indonesia is considering number of changes to improve aviation safety standards.
Indonesian transport minister Ignasius Jonan said that
a number of new rules regarding permits and safety, including health checks for
flight crews and air traffic controllers, have already been implemented since
the crash.
Earlier at a parliamentary hearing, he said according
to radar data, the plane had ascended faster than normal in its final minutes,
after which it stalled.
"It is a habit among airlines that they
sometimes sell tickets before they have obtained a route permit," Jonan
said. "Now route permits must be obtained 4 months before the flight and
airlines will not be allowed to sell tickets before that."
The transport ministry has suspended AirAsia's
Surabaya-Singapore licence for flying on a Sunday, for which it did not have
permission. However, the ministry has said this had no bearing on the crash.
Jonan added applications for route permits and air
transport licences would be moved online from February. The ministry had also
recommended that wages for operations personnel like maintenance and safety
inspection officials be raised.
President Joko Widodo has called for an urgent
overhaul of the Indonesian aviation sector, which is among the fastest-growing
in the region but has seen airlines with patchy safety records mushroom to
cater to demand from a growing middle class.
Analysts say infrastructure has failed to keep up
with the boom in air travel in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, leading to
overcrowded airports.
Investigators have yet to determine why the Airbus
A320-200 crashed into the Java Sea about 40 minutes into its flight, but bad
weather is believed to have played a factor.
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