Adam Air Sued
Tuesday, 09 January, 2007 | 12:01 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The People’s Flight Service Consumer Coalition (KRKJP) will sue Adam Air for the tragedy of Adam aircraft which has been missing since January 1. The citizen law suit from several state-owned enterprise (SOE) trade unions and air transportation trade unions will be served at the West Jakarta District Court tomorrow (10/1).

KRKJP Coordinator, F.X. Arief Puyuono, said the suit is asking the judge to state that Adam Air violated the law. In addition, they asked the airline compensation of Rp1 billion for every Adam Air victim, totaling 102. Adam Air is asked to apologize to the victims’ families.

Arief said that there is a violation against Article 7-B of Decree no.8/1999 on Consumer Protection, that consumer protection is ignored due to the cheap fare policy enacted by the company. He indicated that cheap fares are available because aircraft maintenance cost is reduced. This violates the Civil Aviation Safety Regulation (CASR). “CASR is valid universally, so there is a suspicion that for efficiency, Adam Air committed violated the case,” he said.

The coalition’s legal advisor, Habiburahman, said the suit was brought by the coalition posing itself as a group that has a legal standing. The suit, he said, is not related to the conflict between SOE and private airlines. “We only want to uphold consumers’ rights. It is not automatic that every lost cost carrier flight can ignore passenger’s safety,” he said.

This suit is the second for Adam Air. Now the South Jakarta District Court is preparing a civil suit filed by 17 pilots of that airline. In addition to the employment matter, the suit questions Adam aircraft’s safety caused by the management.

In response to KRKJP suit, Adam Air Commercial Director, Gugi Pringwa Saputra, said he is ready to be processed to the court if he is found guilty. “But, to prove that we’re guilty or not depends on the investigation,” he said yesterday. “If the suit doesn’t have a basis, who do they want to sue?”

The National Police (Polri) HQ investigation team will only start after receiving the technical investigation by the National Committee for Transportation Safety.

Sandy Indra Pratama, Reh Atemalem Susanti, Yophiandi, Aguslia Hidayah and Dian Yuliastuti