Citilink Pilot to Undergo Tests under Suspicion of Being Drunk

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government responded to air passengers' report that a Citilink pilot showed up drunk before a flight. The pilot was supposed to have flown the plane from Surabaya to Jakarta this morning, December 28.

The Transportation Ministry’s director general for air transportation Suprasetyo said the pilot will be taken to Jakarta to "undergo a medical check-up." 

If the test results prove that he was unfit to fly, Suprasetyo said, Citilink—Garuda Indonesia's low-cost carrier subsidiary—will be held responsible for putting an unfit person as an on-duty pilot. "They can receive sanctions," he said. 

This morning, air passenger Hendro T Subiyantoro posted to his Twitter account that pilot gave unclear announcement before taking off, causing passengers to grow restless. He included a video with the tweet.

Citilink Indonesia's vice president of corporate communications Benny S. Butarbutar dismissed suspicions that their pilot was drunk, and told Tempo that his initial drug and alcohol test came up negative.  

The budget carrier's management will request the pilot to undergo full medical check-up in Jakarta.

Benny said the pilot's unclear welcome announcement was caused by him realizing his unprofessionalism for showing up late.

After the incident, Citilink replaced the pilot, and the plane then departed an hour behind schedule with 154 passengers on board.

DIKO OKTARA