Indonesia AirAsia X Postpones Inaugural Service

21st Jan 2015

The Indonesia-based long-haul budget airline and the newest affiliate of the low-cost carrier, AirAsia Bhd., has come up with the decision after it failed to secure approval from Australian regulators in its application to mount the service on the Melbourne-Bali route.

The pending approval of its permit arose following the latest incident involving a flight operated by the same company. The majority owner of Indonesia AirAsia X also owns a majority stake in Indonesia AirAsia whose flight, QZ8501, crashed into Java Sea on December 28 last year.

The medium and long-haul affiliate of the Indonesia-based carrier has begun selling tickets on the planned inaugural route since October 28 last year prior to approval of its application.

The airline was supposed to launch its maiden service between Melbourne and Denpasar, the capital of the tropical island resort, Bali last December 26 last year. It bore the brunt of angry customers last month after it sent them a notice of cancellation two days prior to the scheduled launch.

Two days after the scheduled launch of its maiden operations, its short-haul flight crashed into Java Sea.

According to its spokeswoman, the airline has been coordinating closely with regulators from both countries in order to get approval as soon as possible to allay fears of another debacle.

It was later confirmed that Indonesia AirAsia X failed to secure a permit to operate on the route from Australian regulators, thus the postponement of the inaugural flight on December 26.

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said that the airline's application is still undergoing assessment for safety and other regulatory compliance involving its operations. It didn't elaborate, however, on the matter regarding specifics.

Indonesia's commercial and civil aviation record has been put in the spotlight once again after the recent crashed of Indonesia AirAsia flight, QZ8501.

The flight departed Surabaya on the early morning of December 28, 2014 for Singapore when it crashed into Java Sea reportedly due to bad weather.

Indonesia was one of several countries around the world whose airlines were blacklisted in 2007 by the European Commission, banning them to fly over European air space for their poor safety records.

The ban has since been lifted two years later.