'Banned airline' operator to run Malindo Air?

DAP’s attack against newly-licensed Malaysian carrier Malindo Air continues, this time targeting the company forming the Indonesian half of the new airline, saying it is "banned" from flying in the European Union (EU).

It said the company in question, PT Lion Group, which runs Lion Mentari Air from Indonesia, also has poor safety operations record there.

"Lion Mentari Air is subject to a complete ban in the European Union because of safety concerns and alleged poor maintenance and regulatory oversight standards on the part of the EU, preventing them from entering the airspace of any member state," the party's national publicity secretary Tony Pua said in a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

The airline, Pua pointed out, is named in the online listing of airlines banned from operating or flying in EU.

A check by Malaysiakini confirmed that Lion Mentari Airlines is listed in the "List of air carriers of which all operations are subject to a ban within the EU”.

'Airlines must be vetted first'

Pua also alleged that the airlines had troubles at home too.

"Lion Air ran into numerous problems with the Indonesian government regularly over safety issues," he alleged, explaining that safety and regulatory issues involving Lion Air is a matter of public record and freely available from the Aviation Safety network.

Amongst safety and regulatory issues plaguing the airline, Pua claimed, are:

• Several Lion Air pilots caught for drug use and drug possession.
• In July 2011, the airline had to ground 13 planes due to bad On-Time Performance, its rating of 66.45 percent being the worst out of six airlines flying out of 24 Indonesian airports that year.
• From 2006 to 2010, three Lion Air aircrafts crashed after experiencing problematic landings.

"Any airline, before being granted license, must have been thoroughly vetted to ensure that they have complied with the most stringent global safety requirements," stated Pua, who questioned why a problematic airline operator such as PT Lion Group was given the license to jointly run Malindo Air.

"Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak must explain why was the license awarded to Malindo in such haste, and what was the basis of the award," he asked.

Previously, the DAP attacked the Malaysian company which formed the other half of Malindo, National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd, for failing to submit its audited annual accounts to the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM). 

The party had questioned why the company was not penalised by the commission and why a company that flaunted CCM regulations awarded the license.