Updates 11-1-2015: It has been reported that on Sunday Indonesian divers found the crucial black box flight recorders of the AirAsia plane that crashed in the Java Sea a fortnight ago with 162 people aboard but they failed to retrieve it immediately from the seabed because it was stuck under debris from the main body of the plane.
Updates 10-1-2015: The Indonesian investigators have found and lifted up the tail of the crashed AirAsia flight QZ-8501 but no black box was found, HERE.
Updates 9-1-2015: Jakarta Post reported: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo was concerned with the slow compensation payments to next of kin of passengers on board the AirAsia flight QZ8501, Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan says, HERE.
On 7-1-2015 AirAsia has confirmed that it was offering family members of passengers on Flight QZ8501 monetary compensation following the Dec. 28 crash. It had also said it was conferring with families individually to show its “good intention”.
“The airline offered family members of each passenger aboard the A320 jet initial compensation of almost US$24,000 following its crash in the Java Sea with no known survivors, according to a letter seen by The Wall Street Journal. Some families have declined the offer without further information about compensation, citing confusion over the wording of the letter and reservations about the airline’s practice of approaching families individually.” For full report read HERE.
We were shocked by the above news report but extremely pleased with the AirAsia’s generousity when it offered a compensation of USD$24,000.00 to family of each passenger who was killed in the crash of AirAsia QZ8501.
Yours truly would like to thank a reader and regular contributor, IT.Scheiss, for alerting yours truly of the Jakarta Post report, which has quoted the very strong statements from the Mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini.
Below is the said Jakarta Post with the headlines:
Surabaya govt could sue AirAsia over insurance issue
By Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya | Archipelago | Thu, January 08 2015, 9:51 AM
Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini says her administration is ready to sue AirAsia should it ignore the rights of the families of passengers on flight QZ8501, following the suspension of the airline’s flight permit from the East Java city to Singapore.
“If the insurance claims fail to be honored, then as the flight was regarded illegal, we will fight and sue AirAsia because life insurance is part of the passengers’ families’ rights and must be upheld by the company,” said the mayor, who is widely known as Risma, in Surabaya, on Wednesday.
Risma said her administration had also consulted with legal experts from Airlangga University on the fears of most families regarding the difficulties in disbursing insurance funds, after the Transportation Ministry regarded the Surabaya-Singapore flight on Dec. 28 as illegitimate.
“Although the flight was stated as illegal, passengers bought the tickets legally. They didn’t buy the tickets through scalpers, or illicitly, so they have rights regarding insurance,” said Risma.
The mayor said her administration continued to collect data on the victims, including their valuable belongings.
The data would later be used for insurance purposes and matters related to the beneficiary rights of the affected families.
“The bodies of some victims have yet to be recovered, so who will be entitled to the insurance claim? It’s no easy task, but it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. I’m only helping the victims’ families,” said Risma.
Risma added her administration had also communicated with banks in Surabaya and the central bank, Bank Indonesia, to keep in place assets owned by the victims, such as fixed deposits, mutual funds and other valuables.
As reported earlier, AirAsia flight QZ8501 crashed in the Karimata Strait around 40 minutes into its journey from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya to Changi Airport, Singapore on Dec. 28, 2014.
It was recently revealed that the plane, carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members, had flown illegally because according to a letter issued by the Air Transportation Directorate General dated Oct. 24, 2014, on overseas flights during the winter period from 2013 to 2015, AirAsia Indonesia was allowed to operate Surabaya-Singapore flights only on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
A relative of a victim, Joko Santoso, said AirAsia had yet to discuss insurance with the victims’ relatives.
AirAsia has only given forms for the initial compensation of Rp 300 million (US$25,000) per victim.
“In a meeting with victims’ families, AirAsia said it would pay the remaining compensation, but did not mention the total amount of compensation,” said Joko.
AirAsia Indonesia president director Sunu Widiyatmoko said the airline had ensured each victim would receive Rp 1.25 billion in compensation, which would be disbursed when the recovery and identification process was complete.
“We will never shun our responsibility. From the start, we’ve promised to provide compensation. However, for the sake of the relatives’ feelings, we never disclose the amount of compensation to the public,” said Sunu.
Below is the link to the Jakarta Post’s report:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/08/surabaya-govt-could-sue-airasia-over-insurance-issue.html#sthash.ifTTpcW2.dpuf
In the light of the above statements by the Mayor of Surabaya and the statements of AirAsia representative, Tan Sri Tony Fernandez is now duty bound to assure the family of the passengers on board of QZ8501 that in the event that the insurer failed to honour the insurance policy for the said QZ8501, he and AirAsia will honour all legitimate claims made by the family of the 162 innocent passengers and crew of QZ8501.
