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Aviation authorities around the world grounded the aircraft
months later after a similarly deadly accident in March 2019
involving one of the aircraft operated by Ethiopian Airlines.
The approval for the aircraft's return in Indonesia comes months
after it returned to service in the United States and Europe,
and follows more recent lifting of grounding orders in countries
including Australia, Japan, India, Malaysia, Singapore and
Ethiopia.
The lifting of the ban was effective immediately and it follows
the evaluation of changes to the aircraft's system by
regulators, the ministry said in a statement.
Airlines must follow airworthiness directives and inspect their
planes before they can fly the 737 MAX again, it said, adding
that the government would also inspect the planes.
Privately owned Lion Air, which operated 10 of the 737 MAX
planes before the ban, did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.
National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said it had no plans to
reintroduce the plane to its fleet as it focuses on debt
restructuring, chief executive Irfan Setiaputra told Reuters.
The state-controlled airline, which had operated one 737 MAX
before the ban, has said it plans to cut its fleet from 142 to
66 planes under the plan.
Anton Sahadi, a relative of one of the passengers on board the
Lion Air plane that crashed, urged the government to ensure
proper management of the risks before returning the aircraft to
service "so that no planes of this model will ever fall and kill
people again".
"The trauma is still there," he said.
(Reporting by Bernadette ChristinaEditing by Gayatri Suroyo and
James Pearson)
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