Lion Air (JT, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) can return its three B737-9s to service now that Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation (Kementerian Perhubungan) has lifted its temporary ban on the aircraft type operating in the country. The ministry lifted the ban after inspections of the three aircraft.
Lion Air is the only operator of the B737-9 in Indonesia. The ministry banned the type from operating in the country following a serious incident involving an Alaska Airlines B737-9 earlier this month.
"[The] temporary grounding was only for a few days. We inspected the field and coordinated with Boeing, and we saw there were no problems," ministry spokeswoman Adita Irawati told Jakarta-based news outlets earlier this week.
He added that Lion Air's B737-9s have a different "door system" to Alaska Airlines. The Indonesian LCC seats 221 passengers in its single-cabin B737-9 configuration, whereas the Alaska jets seat 178 passengers in two-cabin classes. The January 5 incident involved a plugged emergency exit door blowing out mid-flight.
The Indonesian government lifted the grounding order on January 11 but only publicly confirmed it one week later. According to ch-aviation PRO airlines data, the LCC's three B737-9s are PK-LRF (msn 42989), PK-LRG (msn 42991), and PK-LRI (msn 42987). ADS-B tracking data shows PK-LRI operating a single domestic sector on both January 14 and 15, while PK-LRF and PK-LRG have not flown since January 3, two days before the Alaska Airlines incident. ch-aviation data indicates both went into storage at Jakarta's Soekarno Hatta Airport.
