Lion Air 'repaired' technical issue on crashed jet prior to fateful flight, says CEO

A brand new Indonesian Lion Air plane that crashed into the sea on Monday had a technical issue that required the Boeing jet to be briefly grounded for repairs, the carrier's CEO said.

"It got repaired in Denpasar (in Bali) and then it was flown to Jakarta," Edward Sirait told AFP, without specifying the nature of the problem.

"Engineers in Jakarta received notes and did another repair before it took off" on Monday.

"That's the normal procedure for any plane."