Indonesia's aviation authorities have taken drastic action, grounding the nation's entire fleet of Airbus A320 aircraft for urgent inspections. This emergency directive comes in the wake of a terrifying incident where a passenger plane skidded off a runway and came to a halt perilously close to the sea.
The harrowing event unfolded at Kualanamu International Airport in Medan on Wednesday morning. A Batik Air flight, carrying 157 passengers and crew, overshot the runway during its landing procedure. The aircraft careened across grass and mud before finally stopping just metres from the water's edge, averting a potential catastrophe.
Miraculously, all 153 passengers and four crew members escaped serious injury and were safely evacuated from the stricken aircraft. The incident sent shockwaves through the Indonesian aviation sector, prompting an immediate and forceful response from regulators.
The Indonesian transport ministry issued a stark order, demanding that all domestic airlines operating the workhorse A320 model conduct thorough inspections before any of these planes can return to service. This grounding affects a significant portion of Indonesia's domestic fleet, potentially disrupting travel plans across the archipelago nation.
This incident marks another troubling chapter for aviation safety in Indonesia, raising fresh concerns about maintenance standards and operational procedures among the country's airlines. The European Union had previously lifted a decade-long ban on most Indonesian carriers in 2018, recognising improvements in safety oversight.
Aviation experts are now closely watching the investigation, which will focus on determining whether the overshoot was caused by pilot error, technical malfunction, or adverse weather conditions. The outcome will likely influence safety protocols not just in Indonesia but across Southeast Asia's rapidly expanding aviation market.
