Too true Krankin, although I did mention theirs and other operators safety or lack thereof and allude to their Twotter wrecks earlier. The peliminary report for the fatal CFIT crash they had this year has been released on the Indonesian NTSC web site
here.
Oh and the abandoned CN235 I mentioned, seems they are playing musical parts at the moment as the previously serviceable one has cancelled its schedule and is parked next to it as bits and pieces come off.
Flyinkiwi10 is speaking a lot of truth. Despite the GFC Indonesia has good growth and the airlines are all continuing to expand with a vengence. The primary motive for the hiring expats is most certainly not safety. Lion Air are after all taking 200 hr guys from Europe who are freshly 737NG endorsed (at their own expense naturally).
But back to Merpati, their President Director (CEO) Bambang Bhakti is somewhat of an embarrassment it seems. The MA60 deal was signed without the proper approvals and has caused the Government major headaches since. They had to return some 737's as they couldn't afford to fly them. This new term for SBY could conceivably see the Merpati issue dealt with.
To top it all off there was another CFIT accident yesterday in Papua - a Police PZL Skytruck, flying a route that I have done a countless number of times. Its horrificly sad but so incredibly frustrating that the same thing keeps on happening.