Some aircraft leasing companies have forced Indonesia's Adam Air to ground a significant portion of its fleet.

Director of airworthiness and the certification office of Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Yurlis Hasibuan, says some aircraft leasing companies have forced Adam Air to ground seven of its aircraft. He identifies GE Commercial Aviation Services (GECAS) as one of the companies.

The leasing companies "don't want to continue with these aircraft [at Adam Air], not because of safety concerns but because of the business aspect", he says.

DGCA deputy director of flight standards Diding Sunardi also says seven aircraft have been grounded.

Adam Air "has a problem with the contract with GECAS leasing company", he says.

"They are still negotiating with themselves" and the move to ground aircraft has nothing to do with the DGCA, he adds.

Hasibuan and Diding were responding to a report in Singapore's The Straits Times newspaper in which Adam Air's spokesman, Danke Dradjat, was quoted as saying seven of the airline's 21 Boeing 737s have been grounded for safety checks.

The seven aircraft include the 737-400 on lease from CIT which on March 10 skidded off a runway at Indonesia's Batam island, says Dradjat. The incident at Batam resulted in damage to the aircraft's landing gear.

Diding says the DGCA has been working closely with Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) to get information in advance about the cause of the accident so the DGCA can act quickly to improve air safety.

According to Flight's ACAS database, Aergo Capital owns five aircraft at Adam Air, Airplanes Group three, Jetscape three, CIT three, GECAS two, Aviation Capital Group two, Lease Flight Investment Trust two, AWAS one and Morgan Stanley Management Services one. Adam Air is listed as the owner of one aircraft.

GECAS managing director for the Asia Pacific, Mike Jones, was unavailable for comment on March 14.

Adam Air operates a fleet of 737-200/300/400/500s and is owned by Indonesia's Bhakti Investama and the family of Adam Air's president and namesake, Adam Suherman.

Suherman and Dradjat were also unavailable for comment on March 14, as was Bhakti Investama's head of investor relations, Robert Satrya.

Indonesia has a plethora of passenger airlines that compete aggressively for market share but the rise in fuel prices has increased costs and impacted on consumer travel spending, particularly among price-conscious consumers.