Indonesian authorities have revoked the licences of four airlines and suspended a further five from operating for failing to comply basic safety standards, local media reports said Tuesday, according to dpa. Transport Ministry's Director General for Aviation Budi Mulyawan Suyitno said that only the national flag carrier Garuda had managed to improve and was elevated to the highest category, after fulfilling 84 per cent of aviation standards, reported Media Indonesia, an Indonesian daily. The government intensified safety efforts following a string of airline accidents and near-misses, including the crash-landing of a Garuda Airlines plane in Yogyakarta in March that left 21 dead, including five Australians. Suyitno said Jatayu Air, one of the low-cost commercial airlines, is among the four that have been their licences revoked, while three others are charter or small airlines with planes that carry less than 30 passengers. The five airlines that had their licences suspended - SMAC, Kura-Kura Aviation, Germania Trisila, Atlas Deltasatya and Survei Udara Penas - have three months to improve their safety, he added. Indonesia has dozens of low-cost airlines following the deregulation of the industry in late 1990s, leading to a quadrupling of passenger numbers in the past seven years. But the industry has been beset by crashes, which prompted the Indonesian government to announce the new ratings system. On New Year's Day, a budget airline Adam Air plane with 102 people onboard plunged into the ocean off the coast of Sulawesi island en route from the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya to Manado, the capital of North Sulwesi, killing all on board.
