Air traffic staff face action

PETALING JAYA: Indonesian authorities have taken action against air traffic control (ATC) staff at Surabaya's Juanda International Airport for failing to detect that AirAsia flight QZ8501 was flying on the wrong schedule.
The move follows the decision by Indonesia's Transport Ministry (Kemenhub) last Saturday to freeze flights by the company on the Surabaya–Singapore route due to the crash of the plane.
While Indonesian news portals reported that four staff had been transferred, UK's Daily Mirror reported that they had been sacked.
"(Those transferred were) the general manager of AirNav Indonesia Juanda, a senior manager and manager.
"They did not ask for permission," Indonesian news portal Detik.news quoted AirNav Indonesia Safety and Standard director Wisnu Darjono as saying.
He said the AirAsia flight schedule for summer on the Surabaya-Singapore route should be on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday or 1, 3, 5 and 7.
"The flight schedule for Surabaya –Singapore route had been prepared for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 (Monday to Sunday). The Juanda ATC was not aware that Kemenhub had issued permission for AirAsia only on 1, 2, 4 and 6 (in winter season)," he was quoted saying.
"The instruction letter (for winter season) was not received by the airport, but only by the centre," he said.
AirNav Indonesia, as reported by the country's media, also admitted making a mistake in following the instructions from Kemenhub, which did not reach ATC in Surabaya.
"My colleagues were wrong, the facts were wrong. My colleagues failed to notice the letter of permission (from Kemenhub)," he said.
Kemenhub had previously announced that the Surabaya–Singapore flight path be suspended due to the breach of agreement by AirAsia.
It was reported that AirAsia Indonesia was only allowed to use the path on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
However, it had been using the path on Sunday.