Fallout

And that comes after an International Civil Aviation Organization audit that found Indonesia to be below world average on all eight audit areas, which risks all the country’s airlines being banned from the EU again.

The Indonesians have promised transparency and an orderly investigation process for QZ8501 but have delivered neither. As part of that country’s air crash investigation manual it states that only one senior investigator will talk to the media but the circus that evolved after QZ8501 saw every investigator trying to turn himself into a media performer.

More reliable information about QZ8501 came from aviation enthusiasts and analysts in Indonesia and the US as well as Indonesia’s politicians, rather than from the National Transport Safety Commission.

Then to cap off the chaotic flow of information came the revelation that the NTSC would not release to the public the cause of the crash for at least 12 months.

Tens of millions of international tourists travel to Indonesia every month and they are now denied critical safety information about Indonesia AirAsia.

That may have been good enough in the 1960s but it is not good enough today.

No wonder the Transport Workers Union has called for the airline to be banned from Australian airspace.

Any move to block the airline from operating in Australia would be a major embarrassment to the Indonesian government and a point of potential tension between Canberra and Jakarta.

Infrastructure Minister Warren Truss said any decision on whether the airline should be grounded was a matter for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

“CASA is continuing to oversee and conduct surveillance of Indonesia AirAsia’s Australian international operations and works in cooperation with other overseas safety regulatory authorities,” he said in a statement.

CASA confirmed to Contrails that Indonesia AirAsia “is subject to enhanced surveillance following the accident”.

“As part of this enhanced surveillance, CASA conducted ramp inspections of IAA aircraft throughout January and found no safety concerns during these inspections,” the regulator said.

CASA said it was “monitoring the situation closely and will take relevant action as required”.

But there is no grandstanding about the ICAO audit.

The TWU said that Indonesia AirAsia should be banned until CASA could conduct a full audit of its operations. Federal secretary Tony Sheldon demanded greater transparency over the cause of the crash, saying the flying public had a right to know if pilot training was a factor.

“We want to see greater transparency and do not want to have to wait several months before an official report from Indonesia is made public,” he said.

Sheldon said there were concerns that the preliminary report had not been made public but leaked information “appears to question pilot training”.

“Passengers flying in Australia must be able to make informed choices about the airline they travel with,” he said.

Certainly it’s not good enough to deny the flying public, who have to make decisions about their safety every day, access to the preliminary crash report.

It may well be the report, which was privately circulated on January 30, will clear Indonesia AirAsia and point the finger at the aircraft, in which case Indonesia does its airline a great disservice.

And it may well be the TWU is doing some grandstanding to support its members who work for full service airlines such as Qantas.

But there is no grandstanding about the ICAO audit and the results are disturbing.

ICAO audits every country in eight categories. Its assessment of Indonesia in these categories were: Legislation 33. 33 per cent; Organisation 17. 65 per cent; Licensing 33. 7 per cent; Operations 38. 13 per cent; Airworthiness 61. 05 per cent; Accident Investigation 31. 48 per cent; Air Navigation Services 50. 94 per cent; and Aerodromes 44. 59 per cent.

By any measure the compliance results, all below the world average, are concerning and could now spark a new review by the EU to ban all Indonesian airlines from its airspace.

As it stands only five, including Indonesia AirAsia and Garuda Indonesia, of the country’s 62 airlines are not banned from the EU.

This is not satisfactory in 2015. If Indonesia wants to be taken seriously in the global aviation community, it must be more transparent and more accountable no matter the political cost.