Regarding The GA309 Aircraft Cargo Door Opens Before Takeoff, Garuda Indonesia Boss Apologizes

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, apologized for the cargo compartment door incident on the flight GA 309 Surabaya-Jakarta route. The plane door was not fully closed when the plane was about to be pushed back from its parking position (pushback) to the taxiway area, before taking off from Juanda International Airport, Surabaya.

He emphasized that the incident would be an important evaluation and note for Garuda to ensure that safety management in all lines of operations runs optimally.

"We apologize for the inconvenience experienced by passengers on the flight. Of course, this event is an important evaluation and note for us in ensuring that safety governance in all lines of operations runs optimally through various service improvement initiatives that we will continue to optimize in the future", he said in an official statement, Thursday, April 28.

Initially, flights scheduled to depart on Wednesday, April 27 at 11.25 local time had carried out normal boarding procedures by applicable operational standards.

However, when the plane was preparing for pushback, Aviation Security (AVSEC) noticed that the plane's cargo compartment door had not been closed properly. This condition is also seen by the pilot through the indicator in the cockpit which lights up again and shows the cargo door compartment that has not been tightly closed.

The findings are then forwarded to the ramp check and ground handling officers for further closure of the aircraft cargo compartment door by applicable procedures. The officers also carried out repeated and thorough checks to ensure that all plane doors were properly closed before the plane took off.

Based on this finding, said Irfan, Garuda Indonesia is conducting coordination and further evaluation internally and with relevant airport service stakeholders, to optimize corrective action steps and efforts to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Meanwhile, flight GA 309 landed normally and smoothly at Soekarno Hatta International Airport at 13.20 local time.

"This, of course, we will also continue to align with regular evaluations of flight operational services in line with our commitment to always put forward a commitment to flight safety and security in all operational lines of Garuda Indonesia's services", he said.