"With regards to the freezing, we have held a meeting to conduct an evaluation and we cannot speak much about it for now as the results of the evaluation are still pending," AirAsia Indonesia President Director Sunu Widiyatmoko said at a press conference here on Saturday.
He did not elaborate on the steps that will be taken with regards to the governments decision, but said the company will continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Transportation on the matter.
The head of the Public Communication Center of the Ministry of Transportation, JA Barata, said in a written statement that the temporary freezing of the flight permit will remain effective until the results of the evaluation and investigation into the crash of AirAsia flight QZ8501 on December 28 are produced.
"The reason for the freezing of the flight permit is because PT Indonesia AirAsia has violated the route agreement," he stated.
Barata added that AirAsia was only given a permit to fly on the route on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, but it had violated it by flying on a Sunday.
The AirAsia flight QZ8501 carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members on board had lost contact with air traffic control while flying above the Java Sea from Surabaya to Singapore on Sunday, December 28.
After days of searching for the whereabouts of the plane, the search and rescue team confirmed that the plane had crashed in the waters near the Pangkalan Bun in Central Kalimantan.
Up till now the search and rescue team have found 30 bodies of the victims aboard the ill-fated flight.
Besides finding the bodies of the victims, joint search and rescue teams have also found debris of the aircraft and other objects.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
