CAAS Forum Page Reply in Singapore’s TODAY Newspaper on 6 January 2015: Airlines’ Responsibility to Obtain Approval of Flight Schedules

We refer to the article “Spotty coordination plaguing air safety: Asia-Pacific aviation chief” (TODAY, 5 January 2015). The published article did not accurately reflect our explanations on the approval for Indonesia AirAsia’s flights between Surabaya and Singapore, as given in our media release “Indonesia AirAsia Surabaya-Singapore Service”, issued by CAAS and Changi Airport Group (CAG) on 3 January 2015. 

It is the responsibility of airlines to separately obtain approval of their flight schedules from the respective civil aviation authorities at each end of the flight routing, and operate their flights in a manner which complies with both sets of approval.  There is no need for coordination between the two civil aviation authorities in approving the airlines’ flight schedules.  This is international practice.

On the Singapore end, Indonesia AirAsia had applied and obtained approval from the Singapore authority to operate daily flights between Surabaya and Singapore for the Northern Winter Season from 26 October 2014 to 28 March 2015, arriving at Changi Airport at 8.30am and departing from Singapore at 2.10pm.  Within the limits of this approval, on the Singapore end, Indonesia AirAsia could adjust its flight frequencies, for example, to fly to and from Singapore only on certain days of the week rather than daily.

Separately, on the Indonesia end, Indonesia AirAsia needed to seek approval from the Indonesian authority for the flight schedule it wanted to operate, and ensure that it operated the flights in accordance with the approval given.

Margaret Tan (Ms)
Director (Air Transport)
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore