CAAM told to conduct periodical safety audit on airlines operating in M'sia

PUTRAJAYA:The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has been asked to conduct safety audit on airlines operating in Malaysia from time to time in a move to prevent any untoward incidents.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the audit was important to ensure the airline companies would stress on safety aspects and comply with all standards that had been set.

He said CAAM would also ensure all airlines had taken precautionary measures especially when it involved technical issues experienced by their aircraft.

“All airlines must have fixed benchmark to adhere to at all times and not only to be activated when an incident such as this (the Lion Air crash) happens,” he told reporters after the Inaugural National Shipping and Port Council (NSPC) Engagement session here today.

Loke said this in reference to the recent air tragedy involving Lion Air Flight JT610 which crashed at the Karawang waters north of Pulau Jawa on Monday (Oct 29) and killed all 189 on board.

The minister also said the airline industry as well as the air transport authorities had always been very sensitive about safety standards in this country.

Loke said he would not play the blaming game, but to be fair to all, any company which operates in Malaysia must keep safety standards at optimum level at all times.

He also urged all relevant quarters in the air transport industry to learn from the Lion Air crash, adding that the ministry would keep tabs on the investigations into the crash.

On previous moves by the European Union (EU) to ban Lion Air aircraft from their skies due to bad track record, Loke said he had been briefed on the ban and was also told that it had been lifted.

“We cannot make similar conclusion (to ban Lion Air from Malaysia’s air space). Nonetheless, CAAM will continuously monitor all airlines operating in this country.”

It was reported that Lion Air was one of the carriers that landed in the EU’s list of banned airlines that could not fly within the EU together with several other Indonesian air carriers in 2007 as the European Commission had concerns about Indonesia’s oversight of airline regulations.

The airline was reported to have stayed on the banned list for nine years and later was taken off the Flight Safety List in 2016.