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The shocking news that the pilots of at least one of Indonesia’s airlines were high on drugs just hours before taking off with planeloads of unsuspecting passengers has raised government alarm bells.

Director-General of Air Transport Herry Bhakti told The Straits Times that the government is working on stricter measures to keep narcotics out of the hands of pilots, after at least four of them were caught smoking crystal methamphetamine, locally known as shabu-shabu, in the last six months.

“Airlines must have sterner sanctions on staff who use narcotics,” he told The Straits Times by phone. “We must have bolder supervision, monitoring and law enforcement.”

Bhakti urged families and colleagues of pilots to be involved in helping to put an end to the menace, saying: “We have to do this together.”

Last Saturday, police caught Lion Air pilot Syaiful Salam using crystal meth — a highly addictive stimulant that gives a sense of euphoria and reduces fatigue — in his hotel room in Surabaya, just three hours before his scheduled flight to Makassar.

Three weeks earlier, his colleague Hanum Adhyaksa was nabbed in a Makassar hotel room for the same crime.

The two pilots are still under police investigation.

In September last year, Lion Air pilot, Muhammad Nasri, and co-pilot Husni Thamrin were caught using crystal meth in an apartment outside Jakarta. Police also confiscated four ecstasy pills from them.

They were fired from their jobs, and later sentenced to five years’ jail and fined Rp 300 million ($33,300) each by an Indonesian court.

The incidents have deeply damaged the reputation of Lion Air, a fast-growing budget airline that continues to be banned from flying to Europe by the European Union’s Air Safety Commission.

The revelations have also raised concerns over just how widespread drug use is among pilots in Indonesia, where a booming economy has led to strong growth in the aviation sector.

With a crew of 500 pilots on its roster, Lion Air is one of the fastest-growing airlines in Indonesia, with a market share of 36.6 percent, against 19 percent for national airline Garuda Indonesia.

Lion flew 56 million passengers from January to October last year, according to the International Air Transport Association, which expects passenger demand to rise 4.6 per cent this year.

Under strict regulations, a pilot can fly 110 hours per month, but with growing demand and tighter competition in the aviation field, rules may have been overlooked, analysts say.

“Indonesia has been a fast-growing market. There are so many airlines, so many planes, but the infrastructure and the human resources have not been able to keep up,” aviation analyst Chappy Hakim told TVone. “Overwork may create stress that leads to the use of narcotics. Investigation is needed to tell whether this is really the case.”

Lion Air spokesman and general affairs director Edward Sirait told The Straits Times the airline is taking steps to stop such acts from ever happening again.

“We are thoroughly studying any applicable and effective measures to undertake,” he said.

Garuda, meanwhile, has said it is making its pilots fly just eight hours a day, rather than nine as the regulations state. They would also get a mandatory 12-hour break between flights, instead of just nine hours.

It said it does random checks on its pilots, cabin crew and technicians at different airports, both before and after a flight.

The checks are also in accordance with international regulations demanded by countries to which the airline flies.

“Otherwise, those countries, such as Australia, won’t let Garuda airplanes land,” Garuda spokesman Pujobroto said.

The National Narcotics Agency is also investigating if any crime syndicates are supplying drugs to pilots in various cities. It has parked a truck outside the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to carry out random urine checks on crew members for drugs.

So far, a co-pilot has failed to pass the drug test. The government has not given any detail on the pilot.

Indonesians fear that the drug problem may be prevalent among other airlines active in the country. Twitter is filled with speculation about whether drugs were involved in any air accidents.

Manotar Napitupulu, an adviser from the Indonesian Pilots Federation, and himself a Garuda pilot, said the problem was not widespread. “Pilots make big money. The more they fly, the more money they earn. I think it’s more about their lifestyles.”

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.