JakartaPost-July 29
Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said the price reduction would help regions where airline tickets were more costly than average, particularly destinations in eastern Indonesia and Sumatra. The government is aiming to bring down domestic airfares by 10 percent before the current administration ends in October, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Sandiaga Uno said on Sunday. Sandiaga said this would help regions where airline tickets were more costly than average, particularly destinations in eastern Indonesia and Sumatra. “We are still exploring [how to achieve the price reduction],” Sandiaga told reporters in East Java, as quoted by Detik. Statistics Indonesia data shows 62.55 million people took domestic flights last year, below the pre-pandemic level of 76.69 million in 2019. Meanwhile, only 15.63 million people took flights into or out of Indonesia last year, below the 18.86 million recorded in 2019. Local businesses blame high airfares for hampering the recovery of the country’s tourism sector. The government previously suggested the high airfares were a result of rapidly increasing demand and curtailed supply as two years of mobility restrictions forced airlines to cut costs by reducing their fleets. Analysts say solving the problem will take time as airlines will have to rebuild their fleets to at least the pre-pandemic level. The role of aircraft fuel, which comprises an estimated 40 percent of airlines’ operating costs, in the ticket price issue has also been a subject of debate as policymakers seek to determine if anything can be done on that front. The government has formed a task force to fight high domestic airline ticket prices, which have lingered since the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/business/2024/07/29/govt-aims-to-reduce-airfares-by-10-percent-by-october.html
