REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi plans to ask the Australian government to clarify its policy banning its citizens from traveling by Lion Air flight. The minister said he will meet Australian authorities to discuss the ban.

"We will seek clarification since foreign parties have made adjustment about us," he said in the Presidential Palace compounds here on Wednesday.

Actually, the ban has a small impact because only a few Lion Air planes fly to Australia, while many of Lion Air's international flights are to Singapore and Malaysia, he said. "But that is not the problem. But it is a matter of reputation so we must seek clarification." he said.

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Previously, Ministry secretary general Djoko Sasono said each country has the right to determine policies. The right is included in the use of airlines for its civil apparatus.

“We respect it. Every country has own policies,” said Djoko on Tuesday (Oct 30).

Djoko said his party is still waiting for the ongoing investigation result. The result of the investigation will be reviewed in terms of the law to determine the future position of the Lion Air Group airlines.

“Regarding the sanction, we will see. Currently we can’t said yet, we are still in period of mourning,” Djoko added.

Quoted from the official website of the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, officials and  contractors in Indonesia are prohibited from using the airlines owned by Lion Air Group. The Australian government said earlier it will review the ban after the cause of the plane crash is known based on the result of investigation.

The Lion Air plane with flight number JT 610 crashed some 15 minutes after take-off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport west of Jakarta on Monday morning. The aircraft carried 178 adults, three infants, and six crew members, a pilot and a co-pilot.

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