Indonesia ungrounds the 737 MAX

The Indonesian civil aviation authority (Direktorat Jenderal Perhubungan Udara – DJPU) has outlined its requirements for the resumption of B737 MAX operations in the country.

This was contained in an airworthiness directive issued on December 17, 2021, which became effective four days later. On December 27, Director General Novie Riyanto R. sent a separate letter to Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air informing them of the new procedures wherein they are required to install new software and hardware, and update their training manuals in line with US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommendations issued over a year ago. In fact, the whole of the DJPU’s technical explanation is a near verbatim copy of the FAA directive from November 2020.

The decision affects mostly Lion Air which has nine parked B737-8s and a further 186 B737-8s, one B737-9, and fifty B737-10s on order from Boeing. Some of its unfilled commitments are expected to deliver to fellow Lion Air Group subsidiaries Thai Lion Air and Malindo Air. In turn, Garuda Indonesia has a single parked B737-8 and another 49 due from the manufacturer. The flag carrier has been adamant about resuming MAX operations given the need to induct more of the type to create sustainable operations, but recently hinted at a possible volte-face in the medium-term. However, Garuda’s plans are currently uncertain considering its abysmal financial standing and ongoing restructuring.

The October 2018 fatal crash of a Lion Air B737-8 was the first of two disasters that eventually prompted the type’s global grounding in March 2019. While the cause of the crash off the coast of Java was largely the same as with the March 2019 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines jet of the same type, there was no immediate global regulatory action following the Lion Air disaster.

Following the recent decision announcing steps towards the recertification of the B737 MAX in China and the type’s ungrounding in South Korea, Russia remains the last major jurisdiction where the MAX has yet to resume commercial flying.