Australian government bans employees from flying Lion Air

The Australian government has banned its employees and contractors from flying Lion Air and its subsidiaries after Monday's crash which claimed 189 lives. The Department Of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued the warning on its website saying; "Following the fatal crash of a Lion Air plane on 29 October 2018, Australian government officials and contractors have been instructed not to fly on Lion Air or their subsidiary airlines. This decision will be reviewed when the findings of the crash investigation are clear." Those subsidiaries are Batik Air which operates into Perth, Australia from Bali and Wings Air. It is not clear if the ban applies to KL-based Malindo which is a joint venture with Lion Air. However, Batik Air operates under and separate AOC. AirlineRatings.com is seeking clarification of the ban. Sources at Australia's regulator the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) in Melbourne tell AirlineRatings.com that the government did not consult it or the industry but just applied the ban. Lion Air recently passed the world's most stringent safety audit the International Air Transporation Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) which covers over 1000 safety and operational parameters. The last crash involving a fatality for Lion Air was in 2004, however, the airline has experienced some hull losses in recent years. The is the first time the Australian Government has banned staff from flying on a major airline. Indonesian airlines were cleared to fly to the US in 2016 and that year Europe lifted its ban on Lion Air. READ:  Lion Air’s erratic speed and altitude graphs revealed. The European Commission also lifted its blanket ban on Indonesia carriers in mid-2018 after the country returned mostly above average results in a 2017 review by the  International Civil Aviation Organisation Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program. The EC has said it has no immediate plans to reintroduce the ban on Lion Air as a result of Monday’s crash. ICAO’s audit reviews the national aviation system and looks at operations, airworthiness, accident investigation, aerodromes, organization, legislation, air navigation services and licensing. The 2017 audit saw Indonesia score above the global average in six of the eight areas, was average in one and slightly below average — by about 0.1 of a percentage point — when it came to the organization. Its highest ICAO score of 90.91 percent was for airworthiness.