EXPLAINER: Why Indonesia’s plane safety record is a concern JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Saturday’s plane crash in Indonesia, in which a Sriwijaya Air carrying 62 people plunged into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff, has once again turned the microscope on the safety of the country’s aviation industry.
- While experts say there have been many improvements in recent years, the latest crash has experts questioning the true progress of Indonesia’s aviation oversight and regulation.
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- WHY HAS INDONESIA HAD SO MANY PLANE CRASHES?
- It’s due to a combination of economic, social and geographical factors.
- The industry had little regulation or oversight in the early years of Indonesia’s aviation boom, after the economy was opened following the fall of Suharto in the late 1990s and end of decades of dictatorships.
- Low-cost air carriers bloomed and flying became a common way for people to travel across the vast archipelago nation where many areas still lack efficient or safe transportation infrastructure.
- According to data from the, Indonesia has had 104 civilian airliner accidents with over 1,300 related fatalities since 1945, ranking it as the most dangerous place to fly in Asia.
The United States banned Indonesian carriers from operating in the country from 2007 to 2016 because they were “deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, record-keeping or inspection procedures.” The European Union had a similar ban from 2007 until 2018.
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- HAVE THINGS IMPROVED?
- Yes, they have.
“Engagement with the industry has significantly improved and oversight has become more rigorous,” aviation expert and editor-in-chief of AirlineRatings.com Geoffrey Thomas told The Associated Press. That includes more frequent inspections, stronger regulation of maintenance facilities and procedures, and better pilot training, he said.
- The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration granted Indonesia a Category 1 rating in 2016, meaning it determined that the country complied with International Civil Aviation Organization safety standards.
- WHY DID THE LATEST CRASH HAPPEN? It’s too soon to tell.
- The plane left from Jakarta during heavy rain, but experts said poor weather was among several possible reasons, including human error and the plane’s condition.
Fishermen in the vicinity of the crash said they heard an explosion, followed by debris and fuel surrounding their boat. But heavy rain impaired their vision and they were unable to see much more. Sriwijaya Air has had only minor incidents in the past, though a farmer was killed in 2008 when one of its planes went off the runway while landing due to a hydraulic issue.
- But experts said an investigation is needed to determine whether the plane was in fact fit to fly.
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- WHEN WILL WE KNOW MORE?
Plane parts are among the debris being recovered from the water and could provide insight. The location of the black boxes in seabed mud has been identified, and divers and others are working to retrieve the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from the sea.
But the investigation could take weeks, likely months, said Indonesian aviation consultant Gerry Soejatman. Indonesia is expected to lead the investigation, with international observers typically welcomed as well. There should be an interim report from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee within a month, Soejatman said.
“The analysis will start with that report,” he said. : EXPLAINER: Why Indonesia’s plane safety record is a concern
Which Indonesian airlines to avoid?
Airlines have a role in providing comfort to passengers during flights. However, not all airlines can provide the best service. – Bounce, a travel service platform, has issued a report titled The 2022 Airline Index that gives the ranking of airlines with the best and worst service across the globe.
- The survey of airline services in the world found that the worst international airline came from Indonesia.
- Based on Bounce’s official website, the airline with the worst service on this list is Indonesia-based Lion Air, ranking as the worst international airline with a score of 0.72.
- Lion Air has a recorded arrival rate of 42.27 percent, which means that the airline is more often late than on time.
In addition, the airline has a cancellation rate of 34.43 percent, meaning more than a third of Lion Air’s flights have been cancelled over the past year. It doesn’t stop there; Lion Air only scores 1/5 for food and inflight entertainment and 2/5 for seat comfort and staff service.
Another airline based in Indonesia which unfortunately ranks as the second-worst international airline on the list is Wings Air. This airline has a poor on-time arrival and cancellation rate of 49.78 percent and 20.63 percent, respectively, as well as the same scoring for food, entertainment, seat comfort, and staff service.
Below is the list of the ten worst airlines in the world, according to Bounce:
Lion Air (0.72) Wings Air (1.11) Flydubai (1,18) AirAsia India (1.34) Shenxhen Airlines (1.54) VivaAerobus (1.56) Wizz Air (1.79) Ryanair (2.06) AirAsia (2.06) Volaris (2.15)
What is the most unsafe airline?
Does flying give you the jitters? Lion Air, Nepal Airlines, and Kam Air, Tara Air, and SCAT Airlines have all have below average safety records. You may want to steer clear of these airlines if they are options in your region. The last decade has have not been good for aviation, at least not from a PR perspective.
From the botched landing of Asiana flight 214 in late 2013, to the fatal crashes of not one, but two Malaysia Airlines 777s in 2014, to the tragic loss at sea of an Indonesia AirAsia plane later that year and the 737-MAX disasters of 2019 and 2019, it seems like there’s a major plane crash every time you turn on the news.
Unsafe airlines, it seems, fly everywhere. The good news is that in spite of how dangerous flying might seem to be, global aviation safety continues to improve, overall, year-over-year. The bad news? None of the world’s most dangerous airlines make headlines, which means you may inadvertently board one of their planes without knowing.01 of 05
What is the deadliest plane crash in Indonesia?
Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 was a scheduled domestic flight operated by Garuda Indonesia from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang to Polonia International Airport, Medan in Indonesia. Garuda Indonesia Flight 152.
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Occupants | 234 |
| Passengers | 222 |
| Crew | 12 |
| Fatalities | 234 |
Why is Indonesian airlines banned in Europe?
The European Union ban on Indonesian airlines has now been lifted. Based on European Commission’s press release on 14 June 2018, the EU’s executive body, the European Commission, has cleared all Indonesian airlines from the EU Air Safety List, which prohibits a number of airlines from operating within EU member states.
The European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc in the press release said that the EU Air Safety List is one of main instruments to continuously offer the highest level of air safety to Europeans. “I am particularly glad that after years of work, today we are able to clear all airlines from Indonesia from the list.
It shows that hard work and close cooperation has paid off,” Violeta Bulc added. For the record, the EU banned all Indonesian airlines in 2007 due to unaddressed safety concerns. Decisions to lift flight ban on all Indonesian airlines within the European Union is a long series of efforts made by the Indonesian Government.
- Previously, the EU gradually removed several Indonesia’s airlines from the EU Flight Safety in 2009, 2011, and 2016.
- Before making the decision, the EU also conducted EU Assessment Visit to Indonesia from 12 to 21 March 2018.
- Results of the evaluation were discussed in Air Safety Committee held in Brussels, Belgium on 30 May 2018, attended by the Government of Indonesia and three Indonesian airlines: Wings Air, Sriwijaya Air, and Susi Air.
Following the decision, the main carriers (Garuda Indonesia, Airfast Indonesia, Ekspres Transportasi Antarbenua, Indonesia Air Asia, Citilink, Lion Air and Batik Air) were removed from the list and can fly to any location within Europe. In the meantime, Indonesian Ambassador to the European Union, Yuri O.
Thamrin said that Indonesia is a country with a huge aviation industry potential and the decision is a token of trust to Indonesia’s aviation authorities and airline companies. He added that the decision is also in line with the opinions of various international aviation agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which recorded significant improvements made by Indonesia’s aviation industry.
“The lifting of the flight ban for all Indonesian airlines is a form of EU’s recognition to the Indonesian Government in improving air safety in the country.” Yuri said, while expressing his hope that the decision can be a drive to continue improving air safety including in supporting tourism industry throughout the country.
How many crashes has Ryanair had?
Ryanair has never had a fatal crash – Before boarding a plane with an unfamiliar airline, reviewing the brand’s safety records is a good idea. Ryanair has an excellent safety record. In its 37 years of existence, there have been zero passenger or crew member fatalities.
Are Ryanair planes safe?
9. Ryanair has a high level of safety – While you may think that a low-cost airline wouldn’t spend as much on safety, this is anything but the case for Ryanair. Like most airlines, the carrier is aware that this is one area where you can’t avoid spending money.
Why do Indonesian planes keep crashing?
Issues with the aircraft’s automatic throttle system were reported 65 times from 2013 up to the time of the disaster. A faulty automatic engine throttle system that was not properly monitored by pilots led to the January 2021 crash of a Sriwijaya Air Boeing Co 737-500 airliner, Indonesia’s air accident investigator, KNKT, has said in a final report on the accident.
- The jet crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff from the Indonesian capital Jakarta, killing all 62 people on board, becoming the country’s third key commercial plane crash in just over six years.
- NKT said in its 202-page report released on Thursday that problems with the automatic throttle system that controls engine power had been reported 65 times in the doomed aircraft’s maintenance logs from 2013 onwards, and were still unresolved at the time of the accident in 2021.
Sriwijaya did not respond immediately to a request for comment. Boeing, the manufacturer of the 737-500 jet, declined to comment. Starting with just one plane in 2003, Sriwijaya Air became Indonesia’s third-largest airline group, aided by its strategy of acquiring old planes at cheap prices and serving secondary routes neglected by larger airline competitors.
- According to the accident report, at about 10,700 feet (3,260 metres), the autopilot disengaged and the plane rolled to the left more than 45 degrees and started its dive into the sea.
- The first officer said “upset, upset” and “captain, captain” before the recording stopped, but the captain’s channel was not working, making it more difficult for investigators to analyse events.
An “upset” situation involves an aircraft operating outside normal flying parameters such as speed, angle or altitude. KNKT Chief Investigator Nurcahyo Utomo told reporters there had been no regulations and guidelines on upset-prevention training by Indonesian airlines that would have ensured a pilot’s ability to stop unwanted situations from occurring, with a key part of that being monitoring. Aircraft accident investigatior Nurcahyo Utomo on November 10, 2022 during the release of the final report into the 2021 crash of Sriwijaya Air Flight SJ 182 KNKT had raised the lack of upset recovery training after the 2014 crash of an AirAsia Indonesia jet that killed all 162 people on board. Indonesia is putting in place updated upset prevention and recovery training, KNKT said in the report.
Which country has the most plane accidents?
| # | country | fatalities |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | 10846 |
| 2 | Russia | 8537 |
| 3 | Brazil | 2740 |
| 4 | Canada | 1800 |
Has EasyJet ever had a plane crash?
EasyJet has never had an accident. In fact, its history is so incident-free, it appears difficult to find any serious issue on one of its flights.
What is the least safest airline in the world?
Qantas has reclaimed its title of the world’s safest airline in this year’s rankings, with two Australian carriers featuring in the global top 10. The Flying Kangaroo beat more than 384 carriers across the globe to take back its number one spot, after briefly dropping to seventh place last year in the wake of a serious mishap.
The Australian airline has consistently ranked highly in the global list by airline safety and product review website AirlineRatings.com, taking the number one spot from 2014 to 2017, then again from 2019 to 2020. In fact, Qantas has only lost its top spot twice in recent times: once in 2018, when AirlineRatings.com ranked its top 20 equally, then again in 2022, when it fell six places following a safety incident at Perth Airport, involving a near miss between two aircraft during takeoff.
According to AirlineRatings.com, Qantas overthrew last year’s winner Air New Zealand by the narrowest of margins. Virgin Australia retained its equal 10th place alongside Virgin Atlantic. (Scroll to the end for a full list of the top 20 airlines.) AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas praised all 20 airlines for being at the forefront of safety, innovation, and for launching new aircraft.
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- The safety margins between these top 20 airlines are very small, they are all outstanding airlines,” said Thomas.
- Qantas was singled out by the website for amassing an expansive record of firsts in operations and safety over the course of its 100-year operational history.
Rico Merkert, an aviation expert at the University of Sydney, said the news is an encouraging result, following a year plagued with operational issues and record poor performance. “Whenever I have worked with any Australian airline, safety has always been their highest priority and in fact part of their brand, as is the case for Qantas.
So it is nice to see them being rewarded for their efforts,” said Merkert. AirlineRatings.com also named the top 20 safest low-cost airlines for 2023, in response to public interest, with Jetstar named among the safest budget carriers, alongside Scoot and AirAsia. (See the full list below.) While AirlineRatings.com does not officially release rankings for the least-safe airlines, the following carriers featured at the bottom of the list with one-star rankings: Nepal Airlines (Nepal), Airblue (Pakistan), Sriwijaya Air (Indonesia), Blue Wing (Suriname), Pakistan International Airlines and Air Algerie (Algeria).
The safety rating rankings come as global aviation analytics firm Cirium releases its annual list of the year’s top 10 most punctual airlines. Brazil’s Azul Airlines topped the 2022 list for punctuality, followed by ANA, JAL, LATAM Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
Australian carriers were absent from this year’s list, in the wake of one of the aviation industry’s worst years for performance. Merkert noted a number of factors that contributed to Australian airlines not featuring in the rankings, including global supply chain bottlenecks that delayed delivery of aircraft spare parts, significant staffing and training challenges in the wake of unanticipated demand, and a new wave of COVID-19.
“Much of was compounded by Omicron which hit all parts of the Australian aviation supply chain at the same time,” said Merkert. “Scheduling was nearly impossible for airlines at that time as people frequently called in sick at short notice, and airports, ground handling, and security found it difficult to operate back then, too.” Australian airlines had their worst month on record for domestic on-time performance (OTP) and cancellations in July, according to data from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE).
Which airline is banned in Europe?
Nepal Plane Crash: Europe banned all Nepali Airlines 10 years ago, here’s WHY? Nepali Airlines have been facing a longstanding ban on flights in Europe. The ban from the European Union nations was imposed on the Himalayan country’s carriers back in 2013, citing safety concerns.
- Now 10 years later, the plane crash at Nepal’s newly inaugurated Pokhara International Airport renews concerns regarding the safety of the flyers.
- Furthermore, exacerbating the concerns, experts believe that malfunctioning aircraft or pilot fatigue can be among the reasons for plane crashes.
- In addition, the landlocked country in the Himalaya’s does have a history of deadly plane crashes.
The consideration of a ban on Nepali Airlines was raised before 2013 because of the high accident rate in the country. Records say that there were, on average, two crashes a year in Nepa between 2008 and 2012. Moving on in 2013, the considerations changed into a decision after the Sita Air Crash that claimed the lives of 19 people, including British citizens.
- Also read: Media reports at the time quote Siim Kallas, European Commission Vice-President responsible for transport in 2013, saying, “The current safety situation in Nepal does not leave us any other choice than to put all of its carriers on the EU air safety list.
- We do hope that this ban will help the aviation authorities to improve aviation safety.” Though it is important to mention that every Nepalese airline has the capacity to fly to European countries, most of the international flights from the country to Europe are operated by airlines from other nations.
Only Nepal Airlines is the country’s airline that ever made a flight towards Europe. The carrier conducted flights to places in Europe like Vienna, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, and London Gatwick. In 2020, multiple media reports suggested that the European Union was considering withdrawing the ban on Nepalese airlines.
Simple Flying quotes a statement from a press release of the European Union saying, “The Commission is aware of the efforts that the country has undertaken, notably as regards the proposed new aviation legislation currently before Nepal’s Parliament.” Such reports and speculations were prevalent until 2022.
However, with the recent incident, the lifting of the ban might become a distant dream. : Nepal Plane Crash: Europe banned all Nepali Airlines 10 years ago, here’s WHY?
Is 737 Max still grounded in Indonesia?
Image source, Reuters Indonesia has lifted a ban on the Boeing 737 Max, more than three years after the Lion Air disaster that saw the loss of all 189 people on board. The plane maker saw its best-selling aircraft grounded globally after a deadly crash in March 2019 involving an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max.
- On Monday, Ethiopian Airlines said it will resume such flights in February.
- The announcements come months after the aircraft returned to service in the US and Europe.
- More than 180 countries now allow the use of the 737 Max, with Australia, Japan, India, Malaysia and Singapore lifting their bans this year.
Indonesia’s transport ministry said in a statement that the lifting of the ban would be effective immediately, and that it follows regulators’ checks of changes made to the aircraft’s systems. The ministry also said that airlines must follow airworthiness directives and inspect their planes before they can fly the 737 Max again, adding that government officials would also inspect the planes.
Lion Air, which operated 10 such planes before the ban, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC. Indonesia’s national flag carrier Garuda said it had no plans to reintroduce the plane to its fleet as it focuses on debt restructuring. The state-controlled firm, which operated just one 737 Max before the plane was grounded, has said it aims to cut its fleet of aircraft from 142 to 66 as part of its turnaround plan.
On 29 October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, killing all 189 passengers and crew. Less than five months later, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max on its way to Kenya, crashed six minutes after leaving Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board.
Why European airlines are flying empty planes?
Legacy airlines don’t want to give up their slots. They should. – Published January 28, 2022 01:00PM EST Rob Melnychuk / Getty Images A new Greenpeace analysis finds that at least 100,000 “ghost flights” may be flown this winter in Europe alone. In its press release, titled ” Pointless ‘ghost flights’ in EU cause climate damage equal to 1.4 million cars,” Greenpeace explains: “Over 100,000 ‘ghost flights’ in Europe are doing damage to the climate equivalent to the yearly emissions of more than 1.4 million cars, according to new analysis by Greenpeace.
Airlines across Europe are operating empty or near-empty flights in order to retain valuable take-off and landing slots at airports, as required by an EU regulation dating back to 1993.” Greenpeace also refers to an earlier article where the head of Lufthansa complains about having to run 18,000 empty flights because the European Union’s regulations insist on it: “While climate-friendly exceptions have been found in almost every other part of the world during the pandemic, the EU does not allow it.” Some might be shocked to learn that Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr cares about being climate-friendly—after all, he runs an airline.
Greenpeace is shocked too, and its spokesperson says: “We’re in a climate crisis, and the transport sector has the fastest-growing emissions in the EU – pointless, polluting ‘ghost flights’ are just the tip of the iceberg. It would be irresponsible of the EU to not take the low-hanging fruit of ending ghost flights and banning short-haul flights where there’s a reasonable train connection.” Meanwhile, I am shocked to see an organization like Greenpeace singing from the same hymnbook as the head of an airline.
What’s going on here? To find out, we asked Dan Rutherford, the shipping and aviation director for The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT). I wondered why there was this regulation in the first place that originally required airlines to use 80% of their takeoff and landing rights (slots), which was reduced to 50% because of the pandemic and goes back to 64% in March.
Rutherford explains: “These slots are grandfathered for free to legacy carriers, with the requirement that they use them. Low-cost carriers want them, so to block them out legacy carriers fly empty planes around. The EU has relaxed the requirement during COVID, but every time they try to reinstate it, the legacy carriers plant a bunch of stories like this.
And then enviros jump on.” So Greenpeace is really carrying Lufthansa’s luggage here, which wants to have its cake, the free slots, and eat it– and not have to use them all even though they can’t fill them. Rutherford notes they shouldn’t have this cake at all. “Legacy carriers have every intention to use the slots eventually.
So it’s not a long-term emissions problem. The problem is the free slots. Of course, airlines are dead set against being charged for those, which is how you’d avoid this problem in the first place (auctioning).” It’s still a big emissions problem, but how big? Greenpeace says it’s 20 metric tons per flight based on flying “the average standard aircraft (Boeing 747-400 with around 200 seats) and average flight distance (around 900 km).” But nobody is flying 747s with 200 seats for 900 kilometers, and every European airline has either parked or got rid of them because they are so inefficient.
- I suspect they meant 737-400s, the site they point to as backup lists them too and has similar numbers to the ones Greenpeace suggests in their footnotes.
- The planes are also flying empty.
- We asked Rutherford how much fuel that saved, and he told Treehugger they would be about 30% lower.
- But he also notes that Greenpeace is actually asking for the wrong thing.
Rutherford says: “The Greenpeace stance is combining something the legacy carriers want (relaxed flight requirements) with something they don’t (ban on short-haul flights). That’s fine; a clearer ask would be to eliminate the slots entirely or at least to auction them (my proposal).” So what we have here is Greenpeace demanding that ghost flights be stopped, instead of demanding that slots be taken back from the legacy carriers.
What is a blacklisted airline?
The EU maintains a black list of airlines that are not allowed to operate within the EU. This black list is drawn up by the European Commission on the basis of information from the member states, and is updated every three months.
