Indonesia’s new air transport chief is to step up the monitoring of airlines and could shut some down, a report said on Thursday, following a fiery plane disaster that killed 21 people. “In the near future, hopefully some (domestic airlines) will be closed down,” Budhi Muliawan Suyitno was quoted as saying. He did not elaborate on that comment in the Detikcom news website report.

But Suyitno added his department would intensify the monitoring of airline operations and look again at the age of aircraft in Indonesia, as around half were more than two decades old, the report said.

Suyitno replaced the last air transport chief on Tuesday amid pressure for better safety in Indonesia’s skies after a Garuda Indonesia airliner crash-landed last Wednesday in Yogyakarta and burst into flames, killing 21.

The disaster was Indonesia’s second major aviation tragedy this year. An Adam Air plane plunged into the sea on New Year’s Day, killing 102 people, in the earlier accident.
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