AirAsia flight schedule investigated
The Indonesian Transport Ministry is investigating AirAsia's flight schedules in the country, following the crash of Flight 8501, which government sources say was flying an unapproved route when it crashed. Getty Images

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's transport ministry will investigate all Indonesia AirAsia flight schedules from Monday, an official told Reuters, as part of a government probe into the passenger jet that crashed.

"We are going to investigate all AirAsia flight schedules," Djoko Muratmodjo, acting general director for air navigation in the transport ministry said on Saturday. "Hopefully we can start on next Monday. We won't focus on licences, just schedules."

"It is possible AirAsia's license in Indonesia might be revoked," he said, stressing that was only one possibility.

Ships searching for the wreck of an AirAsia passenger jet that crashed with 162 people on board have pinpointed two "big objects" on the sea floor, the head of Indonesia's search and rescue agency said on Saturday.

A multi-national task force of ships, planes and helicopters have been scouring the northern Java Sea and coastline of southern Borneo to recover the bodies of victims and locate the wreck of Flight QZ8501 and its black box flight recorders.

The transport ministry on Friday temporarily suspended Indonesia AirAsia's Surabaya-Singapore flights because it had apparently operated the service beyond the scope of its licence, which permitted flights on four days of the week but not Sundays, when the crash occurred.

"We will also investigate the party that gave permission to AirAsia to fly on that day," Muratmodjo added.

Indonesia AirAsia CEO Sunu Widyatmoko told the company would cooperate with the investigation into the Surabaya-Singapore route, but declined to answer further questions.

(Reporting by Cindy Silviana and Chris Nusatya; Writing by Michael Taylor and Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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