AirAsia Flight QZ8501: Indonesia's transport ministry to probe all of airline's flight schedules

An AirAsia plane on the runway of Juanda International Airport in Surabaya on Jan 3, 2015.  Indonesia’s transport ministry will investigate all Indonesia AirAsia flight schedules from Monday, a government official told Reuters on Saturday, as
An AirAsia plane on the runway of Juanda International Airport in Surabaya on Jan 3, 2015.  Indonesia’s transport ministry will investigate all Indonesia AirAsia flight schedules from Monday, a government official told Reuters on Saturday, as part of a government probe into the passenger jet that crashed. -- ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

JAKARTA (REUTERS) - Indonesia's transport ministry will investigate all Indonesia AirAsia flight schedules from Monday, an official told Reuters, as part of a government probe into flight QZ8501 that crashed.

"We are going to investigate all AirAsia flight schedules,"Djoko Muratmodjo, acting general director for air navigation in the transport ministry said on Saturday. "Hopefully we can start on next Monday. We won't focus on licences, just schedules."

"It is possible AirAsia's licence in Indonesia might be revoked," he said, stressing that was only one possibility.

The transport ministry on Friday temporarily suspended Indonesia AirAsia's Surabaya-Singapore flights because it had apparently operated the service beyond the scope of its licence, which permitted flights on four days of the week but not Sundays, when the crash occurred.

"We will also investigate the party that gave permission to AirAsia to fly on that day," Muratmodjo added.

Indonesia AirAsia CEO Sunu Widyatmoko said the company would cooperate with the investigation into the Surabaya-Singapore route, but declined to answer further questions.

Ships searching for the wreck of the passenger jet that crashed with 162 people on board have pinpointed two "big objects" on the sea floor, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency said on Saturday.

A multi-national task force of ships, planes and helicopters have been scouring the northern Java Sea and coastline of southern Borneo to recover the bodies of victims and locate the wreck of Flight QZ8501 and its black box flight recorders.

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