Transport Ministry to ground Sriwijaya Air if carrier doesn’t stabilize internal turbulence by tomorrow

Photo: Facebook/Sriwijaya Air
Photo: Facebook/Sriwijaya Air

Embattled Indonesian low-cost carrier Sriwijaya Air may have its operations ceased by the Transport Ministry as early as midnight tomorrow.

According to reports, Sriwijaya is facing numerous internal issues that has put into serious doubt the carrier’s ability to guarantee flight safety and uphold acceptable service standards. One of Sriwijaya’s biggest setbacks is that only 12 of its 30 planes are currently deemed airworthy, due in large part to the airline lacking in manpower and spare parts to perform sufficient maintenance on its fleet.

Furthermore, the airline’s operations and technical directors resigned from their posts yesterday after their recommendation letter addressed to the carrier’s executives urging for them to halt Sriwijaya’s operations — based on the concerns above — was ignored.

Transport Ministry Airworthiness and Aircraft Operations Director Avirianto said the ministry met with Sriwijaya Air shareholders on Sep. 26 and gave the airline five days to solve its internal issues.

“Hopefully there’s a way out. If not, we will stop [Sriwijaya Air] as of October 2, 2019 at midnight,” Avirianto told CNN Indonesia yesterday.

It’s not yet known if such a measure would be temporary or permanent.

Sriwijaya’s recent struggles is believed to have been triggered by its dispute with flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.

Garuda, through its low-cost subsidiary Citilink, took over management of Sriwijaya as part of a joint operation agreement last November, in a bid to increase the former’s share of Indonesia’s civil aviation market. However, their relationship was strained when Sriwijaya abruptly dismissed three former Garuda executives earlier this month.

Sriwijaya reportedly owes up to IDR800 billion (US$56.35 million) to Garuda’s maintenance arm GMF. As of September 25, GMF stopped providing maintenance on Sriwijaya planes amid the dispute between the two airlines and the latter failing to pay its debt. 

Garuda last week removed its logo from all aircraft operated by Sriwijaya, saying that it was a measure to protect its national reputation and accused Sriwijaya of failing to maintain Garuda’s service standards.

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