Aviation officials who authorized AirAsia flight suspended
Indonesian officials who allowed AirAsia flight QZ8501 to take off on the day of the crash have been suspended.
The transport ministry claims the airline was authorized to fly four days a week between Surabaya and Singapore, but not on Sundays, the day it crashed into the Java Sea.
A newspaper report claims the Indonesia Corruption Eradication Commission has also met the ministry of transport to discuss whether to investigate AirAsia for bribery.
The airline has not commented on the reports but AirAsia founder Tony Fernandez appeared to respond on Twitter saying "Many sensational headlines on Airasia. We have kept quiet as our focus is on families. One by one facts will come out and clear us".
Later he tweeted: "Human spirit is amazing. Stay strong Airasia all stars. Don’t let newspaper headlines deflect from the amazing job you do. Airasia changed flying".
The AirAsia Airbus A320 crashed into the sea 42 minutes into a two-hour flight after the pilot made a request to air traffic controllers to climb to avoid a storm. The ministry of transport is investigating whether the captain of flight QZ8501 personally picked up a weather report before take-off, and it has since issued a directive to make this mandatory.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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