Analysts Say, Indonesia Needs Help on Air Safety

Indonesia may need outside help in improving travel safety after three plane crashes this year, airline analysts said.

Twenty one people, including Indonesians and at least five Australians, were killed yesterday when a 15-year-old PT Garuda Indonesia plane carrying 140 crashed on landing. A 17-year-old PT Adam Skyconnection Airlines Boeing Co. 737-300 plane carrying 102 plunged into the ocean off the coast of Sulawesi island in January and another crashed in February.

``I'd recommend that the government in Indonesia bring in an outside organization to audit the maintenance and the pilot training functions,'' said Jim Eckes, managing director of Hong Kong-based Indoswiss Aviation, which advises airlines. ``If an airplane is maintained properly, it can fly forever.''

Air traffic in the world's largest archipelago increased 40 percent in the two years to 2006 and attracted at least 28 companies to the industry since 1999. Garuda is the only one of Indonesia's 20 operational carriers that is affiliated to the International Air Transport Association, which has asked members to conduct an operational safety audit.

About 16 airlines in the Asia-Pacific region, including Thai Airways International Pcl, Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Air India Ltd., have undertaken the audit, Albert Tjoeng, spokesman for IATA, which represents about 260 airlines, said from Singapore.

`Safety Oversight Tool'

``Members have until the end of this year to undergo the audit,'' Tjoeng said. ``We are encouraging governments to use the IATA audit for their safety oversight tool.''

Authorities found Garuda flight GA 200's flight data recorder, commonly known as the black box, yesterday, Budi Santoso, a spokesman for the Yogyakarta police, said by phone.

Adam Air's safety audit was done by the International Civil Aviation Organization in 2005, Adam Air Director Hartono said.

``The ICAO audit was comprehensive. Everything was audited. Our fleet was audited, our management was audited,'' Hartono said yesterday. ``They also looked at procedures.''

The Indonesian government has asked for investigations into the technical and non-technical aspects of the Garuda crash.

``The chief security minister will do a non-technical investigation,'' Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi said. ``It isn't impossible that'' factors other than technical reasons caused the accident.

On average, for every 1 million plane departures in Indonesia, there are six instances of an aircraft being lost or ineligible for repair because of lack of insurance, according to Paul Hayes, director at Ascend, a London-based aviation advisory company.

`Prospects'

Australian officials said they haven't identified the bodies of the five Australians. Most were traveling as part of a visit by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who had attended an anti-terrorism conference in Jakarta.

``They're not confirmed dead, although as each hour goes by we must recognize that the prospects are diminishing,'' Australia's Prime Minister John Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio from Melbourne.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered an investigation into the country's transportation safety standards after the first two crashes this year. The government hasn't disclosed any information on the investigations.

``Our group is pushing for a comprehensive safety audit and evaluation,'' said Bambang Susantono, chairman of the Indonesian Transport Society, an independent group of transportation experts. ``We have to look at not only the accidents, but the structure of the aviation industry in Indonesia, the condition of infrastructure, the fleet itself and human resources.''

Old Planes

On Feb. 28, Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa said Indonesia may ban airlines from buying planes older than 10 years. About 80 percent to 90 percent of planes in Indonesia are more than 10 years old, according to PT Lion Mentari Airlines spokesman Hasyim Arsal Alhabsyi.

Indonesian carriers had 211 aircraft operating in February 2006, according to the Indonesia National Air Carriers Association.

Air transport is growing rapidly in Indonesia, driven by low fares. The number of passengers on domestic flights probably rose to about 32 million in 2006 from 29 million in 2005, Rajasa said on Oct. 18. This compares with 23 million in 2004 and 6 million in 1999, Rajasa said.

Indonesia has had a history of air accidents. On Sept. 5, 2005, a PT Mandala Airlines jetliner crashed into a residential district in North Sumatra, killing 149 people. A Lion Airline plane skidded off a runway in a rainstorm in Java Nov. 30, 2004, killing 30 people and injuring 60. On Sept. 26, 1997, a Garuda plane crashed near Medan, killing all 234 people on board.

``We don't have the safety culture,'' Oetarjo Diran, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Committee and a member of a team asked to evaluate transportation safety, said in an interview in January. ``Priority of safety is very low and that's why safety culture is not there.

source:www.bloomberg.com