Indonesia Temporarily Freezes AirAsia's Services on Surabaya-Singapore Route

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian government has temporarily frozen AirAsia's services on Surabaya-Singapore route starting Friday following the crash of its flight QZ8501 while flying the route on Sunday morning. The Head of the Public Communication Center of the Ministry of Transportation, JA Barata, said in a written statement that the restriction on AirAsia on the Surabaya-Singapore route will be effective until the results of evaluation and investigation of the incident are produced. Barata said, "the freeze has been imposed because PT AirAsia has broken the route agreement." According to him, the Surabaya-Singapore route was given to PT Indonesia AirAsia for flights on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. However, PT Indonesia AirAsia used the permit to serve the route outside the set dates, including on Sundays. "PT Indonesia AirAsia, meanwhile, never applied for a change in the operations schedule with the Directorate General of Air Transportation," he added. (*)