A safety audit found airlines Helizona, SMAC, Asco Nusa Air, Tri-MG Intra Asia Airlines and Dirgantara Air Service failed to meet minimum standards in all safety categories, transport ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said.
Helizona, SMAC and Asco Nusa Air? Doesn't surprise me. SMAC has been declining and has resorted to wet leasing aircraft. TriMG Asia is a cargo operator, and they've been stagnant for a while. Dirgantara Air Service has had rumours of safety breaches in the past, and a few crashes. They've been in decline and on the verge of bankruptcy for the past year, thanks to what was reported to be a huge markup on the ATR42 leases... since they returned their ATR42 leases... they haven't been able to pick up... And I'm not sure if Helizona is flying at all... Asco... oh boy... don't get me started.
Helizona, SMAC, ASCO are Part 135 operators, TriMG is 121 supplemental carrier, DAS have ceased 121 ops, and their 135 ops were declining anyways.
No mainline 121 operators are in the Cat3 rating...
PK-KAR