AirAsia plane not allowed to fly on day of crash

• January 3, 2015 15:17

Indonesian authorities said yesterday that AirAsia was not allowed to operate the Surabaya-Singapore route on Sunday, the day of the QZ8501 disaster.

AirAsia's QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore, taking the same code as the missing plane which took off 24 hours earlier, taxis at Changi Airport in Singapore December 29, 2014. Indonesia was set to resume at first light the search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, which went missing on Sunday just after the pilot requested a change in course to avoid bad weather. Singapore said it had sent two naval vessels to help the Indonesian military look for the Airbus A320-200 operated by Indonesia AirAsia, adding a C-130 air force plane took part in the search on Sunday. REUTERS/Edgar Su (SINGAPORE - Tags: TRANSPORT DISASTER)

AirAsia flight QZ8501, with the same flight number as the plane that went missing a day earlier, departed from Surabaya and landed at Changi Airport, Singapore on December 29. Photo: Reuters.

AirAsia is only allowed to operate the Surabaya-Singapore route on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, but the airline will still operate flights on Sundays, Channel News Asia reported, citing the Indonesian Ministry of Transport. Flight QZ8501 departed last Sunday, December 28.

The agency has suspended AirAsia's Surabaya-Singapore route for violating the agreement. Affected passengers have been transferred to other flights. The AP news agency said AirAsia is considering suspending the flights.

The AirAsia Airbus A320, carrying 162 people on board, crashed on December 28 while en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. Minutes before losing contact, the pilot contacted ATC to say the plane was about to enter an area of ​​bad weather but he was not allowed to climb due to air traffic issues.

The search for debris and bodies of passengers today and in previous days has been hampered by bad weather. Salvage teams have faced rough seas with waves up to 4 meters high and winds of 37 to 55 km/h, Abdul Aziz Jaafar, Commander of the Malaysian Navy, posted on his personal Twitter. Today's underwater search area covers nearly 2,000 square kilometers with five ships participating.

Search teams yesterday recovered 21 more bodies, bringing the total number of victims of flight QZ8501 found to 30. The commander of the Indonesian Navy ship Bung Tomo announced that they saw the tail of the plane at a depth of 29 meters under the sea.

The cause of the QZ8501 disaster remains unclear. It was AirAsia’s first crash since it began operations in 2001 and became one of the region’s most popular budget carriers. The most likely cause was icing in clouds that damaged the plane’s engines, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said in a 14-page report.

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The underwater search area (blue) today. Graphic: Twitter.

According to VNE