Isn’t it time Indonesia blew its fuse over bomb hoaxes?
Incidents are marring the airline industry’s reputation just as it should be enjoying a renaissance. Yet authorities seem loath to prosecute pranksters despite the chaos they cause
On the same day, on a flight carrying 147 passengers out of Ternate, North Maluku, to Jakarta, a man told flight attendants that he, too, had a bomb in his checked bag. He didn’t.
A few days later, on a flight out of Banyuwangi in East Java, two of the city’s councillors were questioned by police after they told their Garuda flight attendants that perfume in their carry-on was actually an explosive device. It wasn’t.
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After a series of suicide attacks in Indonesia last month, the bomb hoaxes have added a new headache for travellers just as the airline industry enjoys something of a renaissance. Safety and on-time departures now rival foreign carriers. A suite of shiny new terminals, including one opening this week in Semarang that is nine times bigger than the one it is replacing, make travel bearable.
For aviation specialist Gerry Soejatman, who counted 10 bomb hoaxes on aircraft last month, the false alarms are something of an own-goal for an industry that has battled back from the brink.
“This just reminds people of the bad old days when, really, the industry has moved on,” Soejatman said.
