Officials Cite Safety Reasons; Carrier Has New Airbus Planes On Order

Mandala Airlines has grounded its four Boeing 737-200 aircraft after one of them skidded off a runway upon landing, a company official told the Jakarta Post on November 2.

"We decided to ground all our four Boeing 737-200s for safety reasons following the incident,” said Mandala's chief executive officer Warwick Brady.

All 97 passengers and crew members were unharmed and the plane "suffered only minor damage," he said.

Brady said that the airline's engineering staff was investigating why the plane skidded about 650 feet off the runway upon landing in Malang, East Java, on November 1. "We are looking forward to the results soon," Brady added.

Mandala announced plans to shift its fleet from Boeing to Airbus, and has six Airbus 319 jets in use, according to airline officials.

Mandala made international headlines in September 2004 when one of its Boeing 737-200s crashed after taking off from Medan airport, killing 150 people.

The carrier was originally owned by Army-linked foundations, but was sold to an Indonesian company in April last year for $33 million dollars. US firm Indigo Partners LLC who owns 49 percent.

Mandala, which currently operates 13 aircraft, has announced plans to fly to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang in an effort to become a regional airline.

The airline recently secured a category-one safety accreditation from the Transportation Ministry, and is making efforts to obtain International Air Transport Association's (IATA) Operation Safety Audit (IOSA) certification.

The airline’s category-one accreditation puts Mandala on the same level as Garuda Indonesia, and the airline will have priority for clearance when the European Union lifts its ban on Indonesian airlines flying to the region.Mandala Airlines has entered into these programs in an effort to improve Indonesian airline safety after it came under the spotlight of the international aviation community due to a series of recent accidents. In July, the European Commission banned all Indonesian airlines from entering the 27-nation bloc.

FMI: www.mandalaair.com