Indonesia's transport ministry is conducting a special audit on Lion Air, following the crash of one of its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft on 29 October.

Transport minister Budi Karya Sumadi said at a 5 November press conference that the audit would cover aspects including personnel qualification and standard operating procedures.

He adds that an initial audit, involving ramp checks of the 11 in-service 737 Max 8s operated by Lion and flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, were conducted over the weekend and that both carriers passed the initial checks.

Sumadi was also quoted in local media reports as saying that discussions have been held with ICAO, the European Union, and the US Federal Aviation Administration to assist in the special audit, as well as to assess areas for improvement.

Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that as of 7 November, Lion Air operates 10 737 Max 8s, while flag carrier Garuda Indonesia operates one of the type.

In a press release dated 5 November, Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee called on Boeing and the US National Transportation Safety Bureau to "take any necessary action" to prevent future cases of faulty airspeed indicators that could affect the in-service Boeing 737 Max fleet worldwide.

This came after the NTSC revealed that the crashed 737 had operated with a faulty airspeed indicator for its last four flights, based on downloaded information from the jet's flight data recorder.

As of 6 November, 186 body bags containing human remains have been recovered from the search area. Indonesian police and relatives are assisting with victim identification, says the country's national search and rescue agency Basarnas on its Twitter account.

The Lion Air 737 Max 8, registered PK-LQP, was operating as flight JT610 from Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International airport to Pangkal Pinang when it crashed into the sea near the town of Karawang, claiming the lives of all 189 passengers and crew on-board.

Source: Cirium Dashboard