The
status of the passengers when the airplane company stated bankrupt is unsecured
creditors. One of aspects that become concern in this bankruptcy case is the
unfulfillment of the legal protection for the passengers who suffer losses that
occurred as the result of the bankruptcy decision.
From some of the Articles that related with the aircraft carrier
responsibilities towards passengers or passengers who already have a flight
ticket, basically already looks very protect the interests of passengers and
provide a clear legal certainty for passengers. However, when the aircraft
companies are faced with the problem of which Metro Batavia Limited Liability
Company is bankrupted, the State would guarantee legal certainty passengers as
mentioned in some of the above Articles be shifted or no longer provide legal
certainty related with the loss to the passengers, because when Metro Batavia
Limited Liability Company is bankrupted thus the bankruptcy verdict will be
prevailed with respect to the Act No. 37 of 2004 of Bankruptcy Act, no longer
the Act No. 1 of 2009 of Aviation or Ministry of Transportations Decree No. 77
of 2011.
Bankruptcy law is intended to give a good and balanced treatment
to the Creditor. The creditor with the same rank should receive the same
treatment and avoided from discriminatory action. Bankruptcy law is very
supporting balanced manner, not a race where the creditors are paid first come
first charge and paid the entire bill.
From the above description it can be concluded that the only
creditors who have security interest, or the creditor who become privileged
creditors because appointed by the Act.
Batavia bankruptcy case is a case that is in conflict with the
interests of thousands of passengers. Batavia Air passengers who have bought
tickets can only bite their finger because the maintenance company turned to
the curator thus the bankruptcy verdict is prevailed. The passengers want to
refund the ticket, however Batavia Air offices are already closed. In the first
creditors meeting on February 15, 2013, the curator of Metro Batavia Limited
Liability Company said that the passengers of Batavia Air is positioned as
concurrent creditors. Referring to the Act No.1 of 2009 of Aviation and the
Ministry of Transportations Decree No. 77 of 2011 of Air Transport Carrier
Liability, consumers also get insurance worth Rp 300.000 due to the flight
being delayed more than three hours. This Batavia's bankruptcy case that
associated with debt settlement is contradict with the other regulations,
especially the Act No. 1 of 2009 of Aviation and the Ministry of
Transportations Decree No. 77 of 2011 of Air Transport Carrier Liability.
Actually the Act No. 8 of 1999 on Consumer Protection in general
has also regulated the passengers’ rights. Specifically in Article 16 states
that the company cannot break its promise to the consumer.
Declared bankrupt or not by the commercial court, in fact the
company must still performs its obligations to the consumers, rather than
ignore or make the last priority to refund the consumers' ticket who have
already purchased. The treatment to the consumers should be on the top
priority, refer to the aircraft company is a public service company. The
principle of consumer sovereignty means the consumers have the power in a
particular industry companies that are engaged in public service. Even though
the State acknowledging the consumer sovereignty, the status of the consumer is
not sovereign in the face of bankruptcy. This bankruptcy law looks like
derogates the interests of the consumer that have been recognized by the State
Consumer Protection Act. In the bankruptcy law, rights of ticket holders of
Batavia air are very far from protected.
