Indonesia’s Transport Ministry has threatened to revoke AirAsia’s licence for flying on an unauthorised schedule when its plane crashed with 162 people on board.
The ministry said on Saturday that the Malaysia-based budget airline has now been suspended from flying the route from the city of Surabaya to Singapore, the same route Flight 8501 was flying when the accident happened on Sunday.
“It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that’s the problem,” Djoko Murjatmodjo, director-general of air transport, told AFP news agency.
He said AirAsia’s permit for the route would be suspended until investigations were completed, while other airlines in the country would also be examined.
“We will carry out an audit or an evaluation on all airlines in Indonesia over whether there are any violations related to route, time and schedule,” Djoko said.
It remains unclear how the airline had been able to fly without the necessary authorisation.
Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from the capital Jakarta, said AirAsia operated a flight on the route every Sunday from Surabaya.
A statement from JA Barata, spokesman of the Transport Ministry, said AirAsia Indonesia had not been permitted to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sundays, and had not asked to change its schedule.
“The minister is investigating not only the airline, but also the air traffic control tower, Surabaya airport and the people within the ministry responsible for giving out time slots for airplanes to fly,” she said.
“Also, all other routes and airlines are now being investigated for similar violations. If found guilty, the minister threatens to ground them all.”
Sunu Widyatmoko, AirAsia Indonesia chief, said the company would not comment until the results of the investigation were known, adding that the airline would “fully cooperate with the government in that evaluation process.”