Climate campaigners win appeal to block new Heathrow runway

Yahoo – AFP, February 27, 2020\

.Opponents welcome an appeal ruling against building a controversial third
runway at London's Heathrow airport, Europe's busiest. (AFP Photo/Niklas HALLE'N)

London (AFP) - Britain's Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled in favour of green campaigners who oppose the building of a third runway at London's Heathrow airport, Europe's busiest.

The court said the UK government -- which in 2018 approved the Heathrow extension -- had failed to take into account its commitments to the Paris Agreement to limit climate warming.

The legal action against the approval was brought by various London councils, environmental groups including Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. They lost at an original hearing in May.

In a summary, judge Keith Lindblom said the Conservative government under then-prime minister Theresa May gave no explanation of how it took into account the 2015 Paris accord -- which seeks to cap climate warming to less than two degrees Celsius.

"The Paris Agreement ought to have been taken into account... and an explanation given as to how it was taken into account, but it was not," Lord Justice Lindblom said.

The judge added that the government did not oppose its declaration -- and had not sought permission to appeal to London's Supreme Court.

In 2015 while he was London mayor, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to "lie down in front of... bulldozers and stop the construction" of a third runway, citing environmental as well as aesthetic concerns.

Johnson may still have to make an official decision on scrapping the project, however, after Heathrow airport -- which is owned by a consortium led by Spanish construction giant Ferrovial -- declared it would appeal Thursday's ruling.

Khan welcomed news of Thursday's landmark legal victory.

"We won! Today we blocked the Tory government plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport," the London mayor said.

"Today's judgement is a major victory for all Londoners who are passionate about tackling the climate emergency and cleaning up our air."

John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, called on Johnson to now formally axe the plans.

"Boris Johnson should now put Heathrow out of its misery and cancel the third runway once and for all. No ifs, no buts, no lies, no U-turns," Sauven said.

Prior to the ruling, building of the third runway had been expected to start in 2022 and take four years.

Johnson, who wants big infrastructure projects to help drive Britain's post-Brexit economy, earlier this month gave his backing to the high-speed railway link HS2, dismissing soaring costs.

Myanmar plane in emergency touchdown as landing gear fails

Yahoo – AFP, May 12, 2019

All 89 people on board the Myanmar Airlines plane, including seven crew
members, were safe (AFP Photo/STR)

A Myanmar pilot saved the day after his aircraft's landing gear failed, safely putting the jet on the runway with no front wheels on Sunday, an official said.

The nail-biting touchdown -- in which no one was hurt -- was the second instance of a malfunctioning flight in less than a week within the country.

Myanmar Airlines flight UB-103 -- an Embraer-190 model -- touched the ground at around 9:00 am in Mandalay (0230 GMT), a city popular among foreign tourists. The plane carried 82 passengers and a crew of seven.

An unverified video circulated on social media showed a graceful landing before the plane's nose dipped gradually to the runway, and the craft slowly ground to a halt.

Ye Htut Aung, deputy director general of Myanmar's Civil Aviation Department, told AFP the pilot tried repeatedly to deploy the front landing gear -- first through its computer system, then manually.

"They tried hard twice by flying around twice and asked to check whether the nose wheel dropped or not," Ye Htut Aung said, calling it a "technical fault".

"So they had to land with the back wheels... The pilot could land it skillfully," he said. "There were no casualties."

Ye Htut Aung said engineers sent by Myanmar National Airlines would examine the aircraft, adding that all jets get a daily flight check.

For its part, Embraer said in a statement that it was "offering its full cooperation to the aviation authorities in order to aid in the investigation".

Passenger Soe Moe told AFP: "Smoke came out a little when we landed... All passengers are okay."

Sunday's incident came just four days after a Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane skidded off a runway while landing at Yangon airport in a storm, injuring 11 passengers.

Myanmar's monsoon season has caused problems for commercial and military flights in the past.

A military plane crashed into the Andaman Sea in 2017, killing all 122 people on board in one of the deadliest aviation accidents in the country's history. Authorities blamed bad weather.

And in 2015, an Air Bagan passenger plane veered off the runway amid bad weather and heavy rain. A passenger and a person on the ground were killed.

Despite shortage of space and staff, no stop to distribution centre growth

DutchNews, March 26, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com

New distribution centres covering a record of nearly two million m2 – the equivalent of 400 football fields – were built in the Netherlands in 2017 and still more are planned along the country’s motorways, according to research by broadcaster NOS. 

Many large international companies are queuing up to distribute their products through the Netherlands despite the shortage of land and people to staff them, NOS said.There are currently 53,000 unfilled distribution centre jobs available. 

NOS contacted commercial brokers association NVM Business as well as a number of leading commercial property firms for its report. ‘We are seeing for the first time that  developers are building distribution centres on spec before they have any tenant or buyer in mind,’ said Liesbeth Kramer of NVM Business. ‘Demand is enormous.’ 

Total space covered by distribution centres in the Netherlands has increased by 40% to more than 30 million m2 in the past 10 years. The most are located in Noord-Brabant province, followed by Limburg. 

‘All major high streets from London to Paris  and Germany’s Ruhr region are stocked by warehouses in the southern part of the Netherlands,’ said Joost Uwents, CEO of Belgo-Dutch developer WDP, which is the largest in the Netherlands. 

Uwents, who is a Belgian national, is full of praise for the Dutch government which has supported the logistics sector in a big way. He cites major improvements to the road infrastructure around Rotterdam and Eindhoven as will as upgrades in the rail and inland waterway structures. 

Tax 

The Dutch tax regime – unlike that in in other countries  – also benefits distribution activities as VAT is added only on final delivery of goods, said Richard Elich of property developer David Hart Group. 

And even though the southern part of the country is generally preferred for distribution centres, the parent of Spanish fashion group Zara opted for Lelystad for its new distribution centre.  ‘Quite simply, they settled there because the could get both space and staff,’ Uwents said.

Airport Security Under Fire After Plane Hits Motorcycle

Jakarta Globe, Putri Prameshwari, April 20, 2010

Aviation investigators have started looking into a runway accident that killed two people on Monday after an aircraft collided with a motorcycle at an airfield in Tangerang.

National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) spokesman JA Barata said a team of five investigators had been sent to Curug, Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, where two people on a motor cycle were killed when they were hit by a training plane coming in to land at Budiarto Airport.

“We’ve sent a team to the scene, headed by lead investigator Toos Sanityoso,” he said. “This is a serious accident.”

Two men, identified as Azumar, 24, and Yopie Hermawan, 16, a student at Bhakti Vocational Senior High School, were killed on impact at about 8:30 a.m. after illegally entering the grounds of the airport, used by the Indonesian Aviation Institute (STPI), in an apparent attempt to take a shortcut across the runway.

Coincidentally, the men crossed the runway at the same time a single-engine Socata TB-10 Tobago training aircraft was landing. The two people aboard the plane were also seriously injured in the accident. They were taken to Siloam Hospital in Karawaci for treatment after the unusual accident.

“It’s illegal for motorcycles to be on the runway,” said STPI chairman Darwis Amini.

He added that management of Budiarto Airport was not the responsibility of the flight school, and lambasted the lax security measures that had failed to keep unauthorized people out of the restricted zone.

Ministry of Transportation spokesman Bambang Ervan said it was not unusual for motor cyclists to use the runway as a shortcut, despite it being illegal.

“There are wire fences and gutters installed all around the airport,” he said, “but people still manage to find ways to break in.”

He said the airport’s operator, working under the auspices of the ministry, was unable to maintain around-the-clock monitoring of every airport in the country.

“Tight monitoring 24 hours a day, day in and day out, is impossible,” he said. “There’s just not enough people to carry it out.”

Danang Parikesit, chairman of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI), an industry watchdog, called the accident “an indication of poor airport security.”

He said all airports must strictly enforce their no-trespass zones, even if they only served as training airports.

“While universal transportation safety would be ideal, airports are expected to have much higher security standards than other transportation hubs,” Da nang said, adding that the airport operator must be held responsible for Monday’s breach.

He called on the Transportation Ministry to re-evaluate its policies on airport security, saying that the accident should never have happened.

Related Articles:

Ill-fated flight instructor whose plane hit two motorists to dead passes away

Flight instructor loses both legs after accident

Merpati Plane Overshoots Runway, 20 Injured

Jakarta Globe, April 13, 2010

Children watching technicians attempting to remove a Merpati Nusantara Airlines plane from the tarmac of Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Makassar after its right rear tire blew out during an attempted take off recently. This morning, a Merpati flight overshot the runway in at Manokwari Airport in West Papua, injuring at least 20 people. (Antara Photo/Yusran Uccang)

A PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines 737-300 overshot the runway at Manokwari Airport in West Papua and crashed into a river on Tuesday morning, injuring at least 20 people, the Ministry of Transportation is saying.

Ministry spokesman Bambang Erfan told the Jakarta Globe that the plane, which had departed from Sorong, also in West Papua, was carrying 103 passengers and crew.

There are no reported deaths, he said.

The injured have been taken to the Navy Hospital and are receiving treatment.

The plane has been removed from the river and the airport has since reopened.

The airline has had its fair share of problems.

Just last month, the government said it would force the ailing carrier to resolve its Rp 1.5 trillion ($163.5 million) debt dispute with state energy producer PT Pertamina, as a part of a restructuring plan after years of mismanagement.

“We already called Merpati to present their 2010 and 2011 business plan,” said Said Didu, the secretary for the State Enterprises Ministry. “One of the main issues is the debt restructuring plan.”

He added that a Rp 250 billion debt to PT Bank Mandiri has already been settled.

In August last year, a Merpati Twin Otter flight between Jayapura and Oksibil 300 disappeared on August 2, 2009. Its wreckage was found two days later. All 13 passengers and 3 crew were killed.

In July last year, just days after the European Union agreed to partially lift its ban on Indonesian carriers, a Boeing 737 operated by Merpati ost a front wheel shortly after taking off on Monday from Biak, Papua.

None of the 110 passengers and six crew members on board the flight for Makassar, South Sulawesi, were injured in the incident, though the timing of the incident was an embarrassment to the government.

The incident happened just four days after the EU’s Air Safety Commission met in Brussels and decided to recommend lifting the ban on four Indonesian airlines.

Merpati was not among the four airlines affected by the commission’s decision. The four are flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, Mandala Airlines and charter airlines Premi Air and Airfast.

Indonesian soldiers and police examine a Merpati airline 737 plane after it overrun the runway on landing in Manokwari this morning. (AFP Photo)

Related Article:

Indonesia plane breaks up after overshooting runway

Int'l airport in Lombok to be in operation soon

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 03/16/2010 3:10 PM

An international airport facility, currently under construction in Central Lombok regency, West Nusa Tenggara, is scheduled to be in operation in the next several months, an official said on Tuesday.

Spokesman of local provincial administration Ahmad Baharuddin said that a soft opening for the airport was originally scheduled this month, but was delayed due to the lack of supporting facilities, especially access road from the capital to the airport.

“State owned PT Angkasa Pura I, which is in charge of managing the airport facility, has not been ready for the soft opening,” Baharuddin said in Mataram as quoted by the Antara news agency.

The soft opening will possibly be delayed until June or July, he said, adding that the delay was mainly caused by the fact that the local administration was in short of money to finance land clearance for the construction of a bypass leading to the airport.

The Rp 110 billion (US$11.80 million) airport project is designed to have a 1,750-meter runway and be completed with various facilities, including two aprons with 62,072 square meter spaces, Baharuddin said.

Kisar airport expansion needed to support Sail Banda

Antara News, Otniel Tamindael, Wednesday, February 24, 2010 08:17 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The runway of Purpura Airport in Pulau Kisar, Southwest Maluku (MBD) district, needs to be expanded to support the upcoming international marine event "Sail Banda 2010".

Pulau Kisar is a small, remote island of the southern part of Maluku Province in eastern Indonesia. It lies just off the northeast coast of Timor-Leste, and although traditionally very hard to get to, it now has a small airport, called Purpura and located on the northern tip of the small island.

Purpura airport in Pulau Kisar receives flights from Maluku`s provincial capital of Ambon and East Nusa Tenggara (NTT)`s provincial capital of Kupang.

Flights go Mondays and Fridays from Ambon (1 hour, 45 minutes) with Merpati Nusantara Airlines. Passenger ships also call at Pulau Kisar`s Nama and Jawalan ports from Ambon, Kupang and Surabaya.

Parts of Pulau Kisar have that untouched look and it is generally only adventurous people who would make the boat trip of several days from Ambon to Kisar.

It is a small, rocky island and, along with neighboring Pulau Wetar, it is one of the remotest in the country, being a lot closer to Australia`s Northern Territory city of Darwin than to Ambon, for instance.

The airport at the MBD district town of Wonreli in Pulau Kisar needs to be expanded to support Sail Banda 2010 but the Transportation Ministry has yet to allocate funds from the 2010 state budget for the project.

"The Transportation Ministry has actually received the proposal of Kisar`s airport expansion from MBD acting district head Frangky Rejaan, but the funds from the 2010 state budget have yet to be allocated," Maluku Transportation Office chief Benny Gaspersz said in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon on Tuesday.

Gaspersz said the expansion of Purpura airport`s runway was a strategic way to support Sail Banda 2010 and therefore the Transportation Ministry should wisely channel the funds in accordance with existing mechanism.

"Thus to allocate the funds for Kisar`s airport expansion, a team from Air Transportation Directorate General at the Transportation Ministry should first make a survey," Gaspersz said, calling on MBD district administration and the local people to be patient.

Gaspersz said he understood that the expansion of Kisar`s airport runway was strategic to step up air transportation service to the island by operating bigger aircrafts than Cassa 212 plane being operated by Merpati Nusantara Airlines.

"If the runway of Purpura airport in Pulau Kisar is extended from 800 meters to 1,300 meters, ATR 42 aircraft with 40 seats, operated by PT Wings Air will be able to make a landing there," Gaspersz said.

MBD acting district head Franky Rejaan said on a separate occasion that the local administration was expanding the runway of Purpura airport to support Sail Banda 2010 scheduled for July 24 until August 17, 2010.

"Southwest Maluku (MBD) district is scheduled to be the location for the peak event of Sail Banda 2010 with undersea ceremony on August 17, 2010 to observe independence day, and therefore the local government is currently expanding the airport`s runway," Renjaan said.

The upcoming international marine event "Sail Banda 2010" in Maluku, scheduled from July to August this year, has gained support from various parties.

Support to make the event a success came among others from Maluku-born people in the Netherlands, Bank Indonesia, as well as air and sea transportation agencies.

In the Netherlands, Maluku-born people are ready to support the Sail Banda 2010 by intensively promoting it in European countries, a Maluku tourism official said.

"At least 350 Moluccans in the Netherlands have expressed their readiness to intensively promote the coming event in Holland and other European countries," head of Maluku`s Culture and Tourism Office, Florence Sahusilawane, has said in Ambon.

Florence said the expatriate Maluku people had expressed their readiness to her when she attended the Dutch tourism event, "Vakantiebeurs" in Utrecht, the Netherlands, last January 12-17, 2010.

"The most important thing in their support to Sail Banda 2010 is that they will also come to Maluku along with their relatives, Dutch friends, and other colleagues from Europe for the event scheduled for July to August 2010," she said.

Florence added that she highly appreciated the seriousness of Moluccans in the Netherlands to help make Sail Banda 2010 a success because it would be a strategic event to assure the international community that peace and calm have returned to Maluku after the province was engulfed by a communal conflict from 1999 to 2002.

"We actually want the Netherlands to be the gateway for netting West European tourists who increasingly visit Maluku every year," Florence said.

Besides Maluku-born community in the Netherlands, Bank Indonesia (the central bank) of Ambon branch is to open money changer counters and ATM booths in Banda to support the international marine event.

"Bank Indonesia and a number of banks such as Bank BRI, Bank Central Asia (BCA), and Bank BNI will also provide services for financial transactions in Banda to support the event," Ambon branch Bank Indonesia spokesman Totok Hermianto said in the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon on Monday.

Totok admitted that he had discussed the event with the leaders of the banks operating in Ambon and they agreed to open banking service counters in Banda.

In addition, Transportation Department`s Air Transportation director general Herry Bakti has said his office was ready to support Sail Banda 2010, because according to him,inter-department coordination was necessary to support the success of the international event.

"In principle, the Transportation Directorate General is ready to support the event," he has said in Bandaneira, Banda, Maluku.

The most important thing is to prepare reliable telephone and internet infrastructure. This can facilitate communication and telecommunication access so that people would not all gather in Ambon if they want to promote Banda," he said.

Sail Banda, he said, needs to be supported by a maritime armada with the capacity and speed that can sail across 159 miles from Ambon to Bandaneira in at least three to four hours.

The national shipping company PT Pelni is also ready to help make the Sail Banda 2010 event a success by putting more ships into service on its route to the Banda Islands in Central Maluku, a spokesman said.

Bachtiar, head of PT Pelni`s Ambon branch office, said in Ambon that the national shipping company felt it bore the moral responsibility to support the international maritime event in Banda.

Flights Delayed After Plane Aborts Takeoff in Surabaya

Jakarta Globe, Amir Tejo, February 13, 2010

A Batavia Air flight aborted its takeoff from Surabaya's Juanda Airport on Saturday after one of the plane's tires burst.

"When the plane reached the end of runway 10, its left tire burst. Pilot Karyana decided to cancel the takeoff," said airport spokesman Firstson Mansyur.

There were no injuries, but flight 7P735 from Surabaya to Makassar was canceled and the airport remained closed until the plane was emptied of passengers. Airport officials said other flights would be delayed.

Cargo Plane Skids at Papua Airport

Tempo Interactive, Thursday, 28 January, 2010 | 20:22 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: A plane accident reported a Papuan airport on Thursday (28/1) injuring two people on board. An Antonov AN-26B 4L-IFE operated by a local airline Manunggal Air overshot the runway at Wamena Airport at 12:50 noon.

Two Russian pilots in the plane were injured in the accident. The plane carried six tonnes of rice from jayapura, the seat of Papua Province.

Officials and staff of the Manunggal Air have not complete removing the plane from the runway by afternoon.

TJAHJONO EP

Sriwijaya Air skids off runway

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi | Thu, 01/07/2010 7:52 PM

A Boeing 737-200 operated by Sriwijaya Air skidded off the runway at Sultan Hasanuddin airport in Makassar after it tore its wheels landing from Surabaya at 1:30 p.m. Jakarta time on Thursday.

One-hundred-and-eighteen passengers and six aircrew were unscathed. The airline evacuated the passengers to a transit hotel before flying 72 to their destination, Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi.

“The incident was possibly caused by a hard landing,” Sriwijaya’s Makassar district manager Budianto said.

The runway was wet due to rain when the plane touched down, Budianto added.

State airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I spokesman Kintoron said the National Committee for Transportation Safety would launch an investigation to find out the cause of the accident.

The accident forced a one-hour closure of the airport to allow workers to tug the plane to the hangar. At least 11 flights were delayed and six others detoured to nearby airports due to the accident.

It is the second accident of its kind within three weeks after a Merpati Nusantara plane tore its wheel at the airport last month.

Malang Airport runway damaged, flights halted

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 10/11/2009 10:31 AM

Flights an the Malang Airport had been halted since Saturday due to runway damage, a local transportation agency official said Sunday.

"The flights are stopped temporarily until we finish the runway repairs," Malang transportation agency head Soefianto said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Garuda Airlines, Batavia Air, and Sriwijaya Air serve the Malang-Jakarta route.

Passengers who have booked tickets to fly with the three airlines in Malang would be transferred to the Juanda Airport, Surabaya.

Ukrainian plane skids off runway in Istanbul

The Jakarta Post, Associated Press, Ankara | Mon, 03/23/2009 5:13 PM

A Ukrainian plane with 44 passengers and crew on board skidded off the runway after landing at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Monday, reports said. No one was injured.

Television footage showed the Embraer ERJ145 of the Dniproavia aviation company leaning on its nose sevral meters (yards) from the runway.

All 44 passengers and crew were evacuated safely, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

The private Dogan news agency said the plane's front landing gear was stuck in mud.

The cause of the accident was under investigation.

Burning plane

The Jakarta Post, Associated Press | Mon, 03/23/2009 3:04 PM

Firefighters and bulldozer try to dismantle fuselage of a burnt cargo plane at Narita Airport in Narita, Monday. The plane burst into flames after bouncing off a runway in unusually high winds, killing the pilot and copilot. (AP/Shuji Kajiyama)

Emirates jet makes emergency landing in Australia

The Jakarta Post, The Associated Press, Melbourne, Australia | Sat, 03/21/2009 2:29 PM

An Emirates jetliner carrying more than 225 people slammed its tail into the runway as it took off from Australia, sending smoke into the cabin and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing, officials said Saturday.

No one was hurt, but passengers described being terrified after learning something was wrong soon after the Airbus A340 took off from the southern city of Melbourne about 10:30 p.m. Friday, bound for Dubai.

After the strike, which reportedly left debris strewn on the runway and knocked out some runway lights, the pilot flew over the sea, dumping fuel, before returning to the airport and landing without incident.

"We did land successfully, thankfully, and the plane was surrounded by paramedics and fire engines," passenger Catherine Edmunds told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "It was terrifying. I'd hate to go through it again."

The ABC said crew noticed smoke in the cabin during the roughly 45 minutes the plane was in the air.

The Dubai-based airline said in a statement that a safety inspection team was being rushed to Melbourne to investigate the incident, and that it regretted any inconvenience caused to passengers.

Australian aviation authorities were also investigating.

"We will be looking at the flight data records, getting data off that, interviewing the crew, interviewing the company representatives, inspecting the runway and aircraft," Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesman Ian Brokenshire said.

He said such incidents where known in the industry as "tail hits" and were caused by a number of factors such as the angle of takeoff, weather conditions and loading issues.

"It is a hazard, particularly on the longer aircraft," he said.

The passengers were put on other flights to Dubai.

Close Call as Plane Skids Off Runway

The Jakarta Globe, Nivell Rayda, March 9, 2009
 

 A Lion Air plane sits where it slid off the runway at Soekarno-Hatta airport. (Photo: Ismar Patrizki, Antara)

A Lion Air airplane flying from Makassar, South Sulawesi Province, skidded off the runway at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Monday, but no passengers were injured during the terrifying ordeal. It was the latest in a string of incidents within the country’s troubled aviation industry. 

Heavy rain which showered the Greater Jakarta area had caused the runway to become slippery, and at around 3:30 p.m. as the MD-90 aircraft was landing, it skidded across the runway, going into a 180-degree spin before eventually stopping tail first in an open field. 

Rescue workers immediately evacuated all 166 passengers and crew on board. Although traumatized by the ordeal, no one was hurt. 

“The heavy rain and a sudden gust of wind may have caused the plane to skid but we are still waiting for an official report from airport officials,” Lion Air spokesman Edward Sirait said. “No one was hurt and damage to the plane was minimal.” 

Sirait said that Lion Air has just recently purchased the airplane. The airline has been under criticism for buying old planes and using spare parts from planes that had crash-landed and were grounded. 

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan, however, said the plane had suffered substantial damage. 

“The skidding damaged the landing gear and there were some cracks on the left wing,” Bambang said, adding that because of the slippery surface the plane leaned to the left as the pilot, Capt. Ratiman, tried to brake. 

The ministry spokesman also said that the heavy rains and strong winds had limited visibility to about 1,000 meters. 

The airport’s operator PT Angkasa Pura II immediately closed the south runway until 12 a.m. today (Tuesday) to evacuate the plane and allow for further investigations. 

“All flights are being diverted to the north runway,” Angkasa Pura II’s spokesman Trisno Heriyadi said adding that the incident had not caused disruptions to other flights entering and leaving the airport. 

The National Transportation Safety Committee were at the scene but its officials could not be reached for comments. 

Heavy rains were also to blame for a similar accident in Batam, Riau Province on Saturday. A small Fokker plane overshot the runway upon landing. None of the 50 passengers onboard were hurt. 

Monday’s incident was the second Lion Air incident this year. On Feb. 24, a Lion Air McDonnell-Douglas 90, flying from North Sumatra, also crash-landed in Batam after the crew was unable to lower the nose gear. 

Also on Feb. 24, a Batavia Air Boeing 737 carrying 125 passengers lost contact with air traffic controllers and navigation capability over Kalimantan and was forced to circle while the pilots tried to figure out where they were. 

The two incidents came after a year free of civil flights accidents and they may influence the European Union to continue its ban on Indonesian airlines. The EU’s audit team’s visit to Indonesia to assess the country’s aviation safety coincided with the February incidents. 

Those incidents may have also forced the Transportation Ministry to replace Budi Muliawan Suyitno as the director general of air transportation.

Lion Air skids, 168 passengers evacuated

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Mon, 03/09/2009 7:10 PM  

A Boeing 737-900 plane of Lion Air skidded on Monday afternoon on the runway when it had landed at the Soekarno-Hatta international airport, none passengers were injured, state news agency Antara reports. 

The airport administrator Edwar Silloy said that the incident took place at 3:43 p.m, and officers were evacuating all passengers in the airport. 

The jetliner took off from Makassar of South Sulawesi at 2:30 p.m, at local time with 168 passengers on board landed in bad weather marked by heavy rain. The airport authority has closed the south runway until midnight to accelerate the evacuation process. (ewd)

Indonesia prosecutors seek jail for Garuda pilot

Sleman, Indonesia (ANTARA News/Reuters) - Indonesian prosecutors asked a court on Monday to jail for four years for negligence the pilot of a Garuda Indonesia plane that crashed at Yogyakarta airport in 2007, killing 21 people. 

Prosecutors told the court in Sleman, near Yogyakarta on Java island, that captain Marwoto Komar had ignored warnings from his co-pilot and onboard warning signals about the plane`s speed and trajectory when landing the aircraft with 140 people on board. 

"As a senior pilot, the defendant was not really careful, causing the loss of lives," said Mudim Aristo, head of the team of prosecutors. 

Komar, who had 22 years of flying experience, has denied the charges against him, and told reporters after the hearing that he had tried to avoid the accident. 

The pilot`s defence team is due to present its final arguments on March 10. 

The Boeing 737 bounced and skidded off the runway, then burst into flames on rice fields near the airport in March 2007. 

Five Australians -- two policemen, a diplomat, a journalist and an aid official -- were among the casualties. 

They were part of a group that had been accompanying former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer, who was not on board the plane, on a visit to Indonesia. 

(Writing by Telly Nathalia; Editing by Ed Davies and Jerry Norton)

Banyuwangi Airport Only For Cassa Planes

Wednesday, 11 February, 2009 | 15:54 WIB 

TEMPO Interactive, Banyuwangi:The Air Transportation Directorate General has recently issued a license for the operation of Banyuwangi Airport. However, the airport will allow 20-seater Cassa airplanes to land and take off from there. 

The license was approved by the airport's director, Polana B. Pramesti, through the Banyuwangi Transportation decree no. 167/DBU/II/2009 dated February 9, 2009. 

The license was issued following verification by the Transportation Department and the East Java Transportation Office teams conducted on January 23. According to Banyuwangi Transportation chief, Turhadi, the license was issued to meet the deadline of the airport's operations in March 2009, as announced by Transportation minister Jusman Syafii Djamal. "We hurried to finish the job before March," he said yesterday. 

Turhadi said the Cassa planes were chosen due to the airport's incapacity to yet meet the requirements to operate 50-seater ATR planes, because it is

surrounded by hundreds of coconut trees that may disrupt landings. The runway is even used by local people to herd their cattle. 

IKA NINGTYAS

Adam Air plane skids at Batam`s airport

Batam (ANTARA News) - An Adam Air passenger plane skidded on the runway on landing at Batam`s Hang Nadim airport on Monday, eventually causing delays in the arrival of four incoming and the departure of three outgoing flights, Airport Administrator Razali Djaya said here on Monday.

"Seven flights, three outgoing and four incoming, were delayed due to the mishap ," he said.

Hang Nadim airport was closed to all flights for two hours after the accident which took place at 12.30 pm.

Batavia flights from Jakarta to Batam were diverted to Pekanbaru, Riau province while those of Sriwijaya, Lion Air and Air Asia were forced to return to Jakarta.

Two flights from Batam bound for Natuna were also delayed, namely those of Merpati and Lion Air.

Adam Air`s flight KI 292 skidded on the runway when it landed at the airport. All of its 171 passengers were safe but two of them suffered traumatic shock.

Bad weather and a wet runway due to rains had caused the plane to skid off the runway, head of the airport`s aviation security division E Amir said.

The plane which departed from Jakarta at 8 am local time, came to a stop about 10 meters from the end of the runway at Batam`s airport but all passengers were safe, Adam Air`s Director of Operations Captain Irawan S said in Jakarta following the accident.

Twin-Otter plane slips on landing, hits several people

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - One person was killed and two others were injured by a Twin-Otter plane that slipped from the runway of the airport of Sugapa in Paniai district in Indonesia`s most-eastern province of Papua on Wednesday, according to sources in the far-flung region.

An eye-witness, Father Yudi, told ANTARA by phone from Paniai that the airplane carrying 15 passengers slipped and hit a number of people who were standing around the small airport.

The fatality was identified as Lambertus Hondani and the injured as Jacob Ponggonou and Maria Gobay. The victims were rushed to a hospital in Timika district.

Earlier, the head of Nabire airport, Sudarmaji, said nobody aboard the aircraft belonging to Avia Star airlines was hurt.

The airplane took off from Enarotali in Paniai district at 08.05 local time with Dony R as pilot and M Saefudin as co-pilot.

No immediate information was available on what had caused the accident.

The plane`s passengers included the head of the Paniai district administration, Naftali Yogi, and a few lesser officials.