President Orders Immediate Checks on Aircraft Conditions

Jakarta (Antara) -- President Joko Widodo has ordered Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan to conduct immediate checks on the conditions of aircraft operating in Indonesia and the implementation of all procedures of the International Civil Aviation Organization. "The immediate checks ordered are part of preventive and improvement measures," he said while speaking at the main command post of the National Search and Rescue Agency's (Basarnas) AirAsia Flight QZ8501 Search Mission here on Monday. President Joko Widodo stated that the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency was also ordered to provide planes with more information on bad weather conditions so that pilots flying into the conditions over the Indonesian airspace would have better knowledge of it. All parties involved in the massive search operations should do their best to find the missing Airbus A320-200 jet, he added. Furthermore, Vice President Jusuf Kalla noted at a press conference in East Java that the Indonesian government would do its best to find the missing aircraft and would not restrict the time required to search for the ill-fated flight. "There will be no (time) limit to find the missing aircraft," he told journalists shortly after his arrival at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday afternoon. (*)