CAAS says approval for Surabaya-S'pore flight based on air deal and available landing slots at Changi

SINGAPORE - The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said in response to media queries that approval had been given for the Surabaya-Singapore sector based on the air rights that were available under the air services deal between both countries and available landing slots at Changi Airport.

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Here is the joint-statement from Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Changi Airport Group:

INDONESIA AIRASIA SURABAYA-SINGAPORE SERVICE

In response to media queries, we would like to explain that before an airline can launch a service between two points, it needs to obtain approval of its flight schedules from the respective civil aviation authorities at each end of its flight routing separately.

The airline's application will be considered by each civil aviation authority, taking into account the air traffic rights available under the relevant air services agreements (ASA) and the availability of airport takeoff and landing slots from the respective slot coordinators.

On the Singapore end, Indonesia AirAsia had applied to operate a daily flight between Surabaya and Singapore for the Northern Winter Season from 26 October 2014 to 28 March 2015, arriving at Changi Airport at 8.30am and departing for Surabaya at 2.10pm.

These daily flights were approved as there were available air traffic rights under the bilateral ASA and the slots at Changi Airport were available.

Indonesia AirAsia was operating the flight four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Airlines may adjust their flight frequencies in the course of a season in response to market demand or operational requirements.

Doomed AirAsia flight schedule unauthorised: Indonesia

By AFP

JAKARTA - The AirAsia plane that crashed last weekend was flying on an unauthorised schedule, Indonesia's transport ministry said Saturday, adding it had now frozen the airline's permission to fly the route.

Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea with 162 people on board en route from Indonesia's second city Surabaya to Singapore early Sunday, at a flight time that had not been cleared by officials, said director general of air transport Djoko Murjatmodjo.

"It violated the route permit given, the schedule given, that's the problem," he told AFP.

"AirAsia's permit for the route has been frozen because it violated the route permit given." He said the permit would be frozen until investigations were completed.

A statement from transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata said AirAsia was not permitted to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sundays and had not asked to change its schedule.

Search teams have narrowed their hunt for the plane's fuselage and remaining bodies from the crash of the Airbus A320-200, with foreign investigators helping to pinpoint its black boxes, crucial to determining the cause of the crash off the island of Borneo.

Rough weather has in recent days hampered the search for the plane, which is believed to be in relatively shallow water of around 25-32 metres (82-105 feet). So far 30 bodies and various items of debris have been recovered.

The search is now focused on an area of 45 by 35 nautical miles centred about 75 nautical miles southwest of Pangkalan Bun, a town in Central Kalimantan on Borneo.

The families of victims have been preparing funerals as the bodies recovered are identified in Surabaya, where a crisis centre has been set up at a police hospital with facilities to store 150 bodies.

Before take-off, the pilot of Flight 8501 had asked for permission to fly at a higher altitude to avoid a storm, but the request was not approved due to other planes above him on the popular route, according to AirNav, Indonesia's air traffic control.

In his last communication shortly before all contact was lost, he said he wanted to change course to avoid the menacing storm system.