Indonesia’s airlines struggling to meet safety concerns after 2014 audit revelations

Like a number of Asian countries, Indonesia is struggling to maintain internationally accepted safety standards, established by the ICAO, as demand for flights continues to increase. By 2034 this demand is expected to triple according to IATA. The country’s situation has not been helped with a number of recent major accidents including the crash of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 into the Java Sea off Borneo on 28th December killing all 162 on board, the crash of an Indonesian Air Force C-130 aircraft on June 30th which killed 130 people, and Sunday’s crash of an ATR 42-300 in Papua which killed all 52 on board.
While individual problems are not identified, the scores for all eight sections of the audit are published online. The audit measures a country’s ability to oversee their airlines, including how well they conform to the ICAO’s standards. The principal problem has been Indonesia’s inability to source and train sufficient staff to an acceptable standard to cope with the current expansion plans. As one source put it, “Until they resolve this they cannot do the same level of supervision and certifications as a country with a robust system in place.” However since the audit the country has created a plan aimed at addressing the problems highlighted. “They have been very active in developing their plan,” the source added. “They are making progress.”
In the May 2014 audit carried out by the ICAO, Indonesia scored below the international average in all of the eight categories. It is usual for the great majority of countries to score above average for at least a few categories. Indonesia’s lowest mark came for “organization”, with 20%, where the worldwide average is 64%. “Accident investigation” at 31% compared with the global average of 55%. The highest score was for “airworthiness”, though at 61 percent it was still well below the average worldwide of 74%. However the audit did not flag up any specific “significant safety concerns”, the most seriously rated problems.