AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes has never admitted that AirAsia Indonesia had no permit to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route.

According to The Straits Times, Fernandes in a press statement stressed that they had the rights to fly the route.

“We have the rights to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route. We have flown according to schedule and have the rights to fly for seven days a week.

"We have secured both slots as well as approval from both Indonesia and Singapore. What happened was purely an administrative error," said Fernandes.

The statement was released following a report in an Indonesian news portal that claimed Fernandes had admitted that AirAsia Indonesia has no permit to fly the Surabaya-Singapore route, to its transport minister Ignasius Jonan.

On Jan 2, Indonesian Transport Ministry suspended the airline's Surabaya-Singapore route for violating the operational hours.