Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – The country's airline industry may have grown fast over the past 15 years, but it has scored significantly lower on the effectiveness of its safety oversight system than the global average.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a United Nations agency whose standards and recommended practices (SARPs) guide its 191 member states in developing their national civil aviation regulations, has found that Indonesia scored below the global average in all eight areas it assessed during its national audit in May last year.
Among the eight areas, Indonesia scored lowest on organization, with a score of only 17.6 percent for "effective implementation", far lower than the global average of 64.8 percent. While the country scored 61 percent in airworthiness, this is still lower than the worldwide average of 73.9 percent.
Although ICAO has no law enforcement authority, its audits have been widely referred to by developed countries to impose a ban on airlines from countries with poor air safety oversight.
The ICAO audit in 2007, which spotted 121 loopholes in the Indonesian air safety oversight system, for instance, partly led to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Commission (EC) quickly imposing a flight ban on all Indonesian airlines, including flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, which had been struggling to rebuild its brand image after years of financial losses.
"Prior to the EC ban, there was no information forwarded to us airline operators by the Transportation Ministry, although we actually had a chance to deliver our 'defense argument'," Garuda operational director Capt. Novianto Herupratomo said, shifting the blame to the ministry for its poor coordination with airlines.
Although both organizations are yet to fully lift their ban, the EC has so far agreed to remove five Indonesian airlines, including Garuda and low-cost airline AirAsia Indonesia, whose flight QZ8501 recently crashed into the Karimata Strait, from the blacklist.
Responding to the country's poor track record in air safety audits, Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan said he was expecting to complete corrective actions the ICAO recommended by July, including issuing a series of new regulations to strengthen the country's air safety oversight.
"By mid year, I want to see the European Union lift its ban on Indonesian airlines and the FAA upgrade our [air safety] rating," he recently said.
Jonan, however, acknowledged that a lack of qualified law-enforcement personnel, particularly flight inspectors, had made it hard for the ministry to provide reliable supervision of the country's rapidly expanding airline industry.
There are 17 airlines providing scheduled commercial services and 45 airlines providing chartered services currently registered with the ministry. Data from the ministry shows that Indonesia posted an average of 13.8 and 19.3 percent growth in domestic and international passenger numbers, respectively, between 2009 and 2013.
Looking at the current size of the country's airline industry, public policy expert Agus Pambagio said the ministry needed to increase the number of flight inspectors from the current 60 to at least 300 to provide reliable air safety supervision.
"The ministry's Airworthiness and Aircraft Operation Directorate (DKUPPU) must also ideally become an independent body that serves as the airline supervisory and certification agency," he said.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/16/local-airlines-struggling-meet-safety-standards.html