But, over 1 million passengers per month. Thats over 12m per year. many delayed flights..

But, the last deadly accident was 2004. So, that means the chance is less than 1 in a million. Arroud 1 in 6 million probability of death. To me, that is pretty safe.

And, since then, the fleet has been upgraded with new boeing.

And remember, indonesia is a land the size of europe. Alot of smaller airports do not have expensive safety equipment, long runways etc.

I must admit, having just flown lionair, i was not majorly impressed, but not for safety, but because they where delayed every time, and because the seat pitch was so poor.

This airline is designed to provide travel to the masses, and it is very popular in indonesia, as its prices are unbeatable.

For me, next time I will spend a bit more, and go for comfort.

Anyway Indonesian airlines nowadays are much better than 3 years ago. At least 3 airlines stated in the topic above has been shut down or unoperated anymore (Adam Air, Bouraq – was one of my favorite low cost carrier – and Awair). And some of them have regain permit to fly to EU again.

Matthew, I think to fly is much more safer than driving on Indonesian roads. I live in Jakarta and have my big families in Surabaya. On vacations or holidays back to Surabaya I always take airplanes to get me there.It’s only 1 hour 10 minutes flight compared to more than 12 hours of exhausting and full of risks driving.

The airlines are trying to make income on most Indonesians who don’t have a lot, making some of the airfares so low, its so low its horrendous. I checked flights from Riau to Jakarta recently and I was trying to ponder how will the airline earn money, or buy new parts and, make the airline able to recover costs to replace old airframes. This part, its the business people must be responsible. Earning money at the cost of peoples safety is not right. They should know that having a single aircraft fail is very painful to investors pockets and their conscience.

As with Adam Air Flight 574, recovering the black boxes 6000 meters below the sea was indeed futile. The plane crashed on 1 January 2007, but retrieved the Flight Data Recorder on 27 August and Cockpit Voice Recorder on 28 August because of lack of funding and finger pointing. I doubt the Indonesian government don’t have resources, as a matter of fact, they have funds but they chose the carrier to recover the debris.

From the private company’s point of view, once you have an air crash, the risk of the company being dissolved is very imminent, all the stockholders will pull off money and the company will just declare bankruptcy. People will bleed to death getting funds from a company that is bound to fail, so in this step, I believe the Indonesian government must step up and pay for the costs. Time was running out then, blackboxes beacon batteries will only last for 30 days. Lucky the blackboxes are not far apart from the aircraft’s main debris or else the truth about the crash will just be a mystery to families lost their lives.

Just a point of view. I might be wrong with my assumptions considering I am not an Indonesian. I hope Indonesians don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of Indonesian friends and I would say they are the best people I met in the world. I don’t have problems with them, but I do have problems with the system of governance.

In addition, here’s what I’ve got to say to respond to Will and Liz:

Speaking of safety, Merpati and Batavia Air are frankly not among the best Indonesian airlines. Merpati however, is slightly better than Batavia. Since the 2007 consecutive air disasters in Indonesia, Merpati has worked very hard to improve its safety, and as a result, the government has classified its safety record as “category one” (one being excellent, three being poor). It is also well-known as the only airlines which serves remote routes that most Indonesian airlines do not serve, making it convenient for travelers who need to mobilize from one island into another within the archipelago. On the other hand, Batavia is relatively a newcomer in the industry, trying to garner credibility and reputation from the public, but I would say….. they’re not there yet.

Both have relatively old jets, and were recently involved in a series of non-lethal incidents, such as runway overshoot, failure to take-off/ land, and broken tire. I’d say that a reconsideration may be worthy before you decide to fly those airlines.