» AirAsia crash:
Indonesian official says other airlines may be in violation.
Authorities levied the first punishments stemming from the incident, suspending officials connected to an alleged flight schedule violation,
Indonesian authorities on Monday levied the (irst punishments stemming from the AirAsia plane crash, suspending of(icials connected to the airline’s alleged flight schedule violation as the search for wreckage continued in the Java Sea.
Of(icials have said that Flight 8501 was not authorized to be airborne on a Sunday, as it was Dec. 28 when it went down in the Java Sea en route to Singapore from Surabaya, Indonesia. The airline has been barred from flying that route while an investigation takes place.
The acting director-general for air transport, Djoko Murjatmodjo, said all transport ministry and Surabaya airport of(icials involved in the unauthorized flight schedule would be suspended.
While there are no indications that the alleged schedule violation was connected to the crash, which is believed to have killed all 162 people aboard the flight, Djoko said authorities were conducting an audit of all flight schedules.
In comments that lay bare longstanding concerns about Indonesia’s nascent aviation sector, Djoko raised the possibility that other airlines, too, could be flying without the required agreements or permits.
Since being deregulated in the 1990s, Indonesia’s aviation sector has been dogged by accidents and safety concerns that prompted the European Union to impose a temporary ban on Indonesian airlines entering its airspace. AirAsia, the Malaysia-based budget carrier whose rapid growth is emblematic of the booming airline sector across Southeast Asia, had a good safety record and had never previously experienced a fatality.
Indonesian of(icials say AirAsia was authorized to serve the Surabaya-to-Singapore route four days a week but not on Sundays.
Meanwhile, recovery crews battling unfriendly waters pulled three more bodies from the Java Sea but again failed to locate the aircraft’s fuselage, which sonar images have indicated is lying 100 feet below the surface.
A total of 37 bodies have been recovered from the water. But search of(icials are urgently trying to reach the fuselage, particularly the tail, where the “black box” flight recorders are housed.