Correction: There are conflicting reports as to when JT 898 finally took off. A statement from a Transportation Ministry official in Okezone suggests the plane took off at 11PM, but several news websites including Kompas, Detik, and Sindo all reported that the plane took off at 11AM.
Fresh after yet another shocking scandal, Lion Air is once again pissing off its passengers, this time with insanely long flight delays.
Lion Air flight JT 898 was scheduled to take off from Jakarta to Makassar at 5AM on Saturday, but, due to what appears to be extreme ineptitude and mismanagement by the airline, it only took off 18 hours later, at 11PM.
The delays reportedly pissed off the passengers (who could blame them?) who angrily protested against the airline at Soekarno Hatta Airport.
Shockingly, the Transportation Ministry also reported that some passengers were so upset that they invaded the runway.
“That incident did happen. The passengers were so upset that they ran out onto the runway to prevent other Lion Air planes from taking off,” said Transportation Ministry official Hadi M. Djuraid, as quoted by Kompas on Saturday.
It’s unclear if the runway invaders were given any criminal charges.
The Transportation Ministry has launched an investigation into the delay, as well as a written warning to Lion Air. They suspect that the lengthy delay was due to Lion Air overbooking the flight.
This was confirmed by Lion Air Director Edward Sirait.
“On November 21, 2015, there was a delay on the CGK-UPG (Jakarta-Makassar) flight number JT 898 after we had to switch from a narrow body plane to a wide body plane [to accommodate more passengers],” Edward said, as quoted by Okezone yesterday.
Edward added that the delays were made unnecessarily longer after they couldn’t secure a new flight approval for the new plane because of internal miscommunications.
“We apologize to our passengers for the incident,” he concluded.
Lawmaker Miryam S Haryani, who sits on Commission V of the House of Representatives (DPR), is calling on the ministry to be unforgiving towards Lion Air in their investigation.
“These [delays] have proven to be bothersome to the activities of many people,” Miryam said, as quoted by Okezone yesterday.
“[There must be] tough sanctions like suspending some [of Lion Air’s] flight routes, or even suspending the airline’s operational permits if necessary, until Lion Air sorts out its internal issues.”
Miryam may have a point in calling for heavy sanctions against Lion Air, because just a day after the JT 898 debacle, it was reported that three Lion Air flights from Jakarta, one each to Medan, Palembang, and Padang, were delayed on Sunday evening.
