The inside word from within Airlines involved that a great amount of Rupiah changed hands to sign off on the required certifications.
An even greater amount has changed hands recently to cover up the previous transactions. The finest Government officials money can buy!
That is Indonesia for you. Chapelle and Slagcerdes would not be in the media now if they had enough sense to pay the required (and expected) bribe up front.
Unfortunately for Garuda and the other incumbents, the game is indeed afoot and I would be very much amazed if the big boy survives the operation. It is however a damned shame, but an industry that produces on average one major incident or accident every 10 days is not good for any of us.
So sad for my mates at GA.
I do like the way they treat their passengers and the way they do business.
Two of my corporates have sworn them off as of today and a third is considering it. Multiply that by the number of Travel Agents around the region.
If you are going into Jogjag or Padang, the list of possibilities becomes nearly untenable and that is what I am having to deal with. Tiger over SIN is about the only game in town into Padang twice a week, replacing the Silk Air services withdrawn after the Tsunami.
JOG is a whole different ball of wax. Only domestic input, and an ugly bastard of an airport.
Life was not meant to be easy.
EWL