Govt Temporarily Suspends Merpati's Operation
8 February 2014 12:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Herry Bakti Gumay, Director General of Air Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation, said that the government has temporarily suspended the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of the ailing state-owned carrier PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines.
The decision was made following the halt of the airline's operation since February 1, 2014 due to the financial deficit.
"According to the regulation, we'll temporarily suspend its AOC. We will temporarily halt its operation. Later, after it is ready to be in operation again, we will assess its financial security," said Herry on Friday. However, he said that the subsidiaries of Merpati may continue to be in operation.
After temporarily suspending the AOC, Herry said that the Transportation Ministry would offer Merpati's routes to other airlines.
Those routes, he said, could be taken over by other airlines by seeing the operational ability of the airline that is going to take them.
NURUL MAHMUDAH
