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As we have mentioned on various occasions in our updates and reports before, the year 2020 was a very tough one for airlines. The social and business restrictions that governments imposed across the world in an effort to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus took a huge toll.
Unfortunately Indonesia is no stranger to fatal aircraft accidents. And unfortunately, disaster struck again on Saturday 9 January 2021 when Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, a scheduled domestic passenger flight flying from Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta to Pontianak (West Kalimantan), crashed in the Java Sea some four minutes after take-off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Air travel – in this article we restrict ourselves to air travel in the form of travel in commercial airplanes – is vital. In fact, air travel has become increasingly important over the past decades, especially in Southeast Asia where the combination of rapidly growing middle classes and lower airline ticket prices (caused by fierce competition between the region’s low-cost carriers) has allowed an increasing number of people to opt for air travel when making a domestic or international trip.
After plenty of public outcry over the past month, the Garuda Indonesia Group decided to cut prices of air tickets by 20 percent for all domestic flight routes. Starting per Thursday (14.02.2019), air passengers can enjoy lower ticket prices when flying Garuda Indonesia, Citilink Indonesia, Sriwijaya Air, and NAM Air.
Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) confirmed that Lion Air Flight JT 610 has crashed into the sea near Karawang (West Java). The plane was en route from the nation's capital city of Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang, the capital of the Bangka Belitung Islands province.
Back in 2007 most Indonesian airlines were banned from flying into the European Union (EU)'s airspace; a decision that was made out of safety concerns. On Thursday (15/06), however, the European Commission announced that it had removed all Indonesian airlines from its EU Air Safety list following further improvements in Indonesia's safety standards.
Asman Abnur, Indonesian Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Minister, said a total of 654 foreign airplane pilots currently work in Indonesia. This is a relatively high figure compared to the 7,150 Indonesian pilots as it implies that 8.4 percent of all pilots in Indonesia are foreign. The use of foreign pilots is allowed by the Indonesian government since 2008.
The Lion Air Group, owned by Rusdi Kirana, remains the dominating force in Indonesia's airline industry. With its three units (Lion Air, Batik Air, and Wings Air) the group carried 20.5 million air passengers in the first half of 2016, controlling 48.4 percent of the market in the first half of 2016, followed by the Garuda Indonesia Group, and the Sriwijaya Air Group. Edward Sirait, President Director of the Lion Air Group, said the group's market share has grown 5 percent over the past year. This is remarkable considering that the global and domestic economy remained somewhat bleak.
The Indonesia National Air Carriers Association (INACA) expects the number of air passengers in Indonesia to grow 15 percent (y/y) in full-year 2016, roughly the same as growth realization one year earlier. In the first five months of 2016 there were a total of 37.38 million air passengers - both domestic and international flights - in Indonesia, up 16 percent (y/y) from the number of air passengers in the same period last year. INACA added that the Idul Fitri holiday period will not be able to boost total passengers significantly due to limited slot times.
State-owned airport services company Angkasa Pura II that operates the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport located just outside Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta, says construction of the airport's third terminal is nearing completion. Angkasa Pura II is optimistic that the IDR 5.7 trillion (approx. USD $432 million) terminal will be ready for operations on 26 May 2016. Budi Karya Sumadi, General Director of Angkasa Pura II, said this terminal - called Terminal 3 Ultimate - will be used for international and domestic flights of Garuda Indonesia (which currently uses Terminal 2).
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In 2017 Indonesia's Transportation Ministry allowed the opening of 83 new flight routes (commercial civil flights), consisting of 58 domestic routes and 25 international routes. There are two reasons why the government encourages the opening of new routes: (1) to make the remote areas of Indonesia less isolated, and (2) to strengthen inter & intra regional transportation.
Good news for Indonesia's aviation industry and Indonesian airlines. After a nearly decade-long ban, the US aviation regulator (Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA) finally allows Indonesian airlines to enter US airspace again. The ban was imposed in 2007 due to safety concerns. The FAA announced on Monday (15/08) that the safety status of Indonesia's aviation industry was upgraded by one notch to category 1. This opens doors for Indonesian airlines to serve flight routes to the USA as well as code shares with US airlines.
The spotlights are again turned on low-cost carrier Lion Air, Indonesia's largest privately-held airline that controls about 40 percent of the air passenger market in Indonesia. The airline, owned by Rusdi Kirana (one of the richest Indonesians), has again disappointed thousands of passengers due to delayed flights. This time flight delays were caused by Lion Air pilots going on strike. It is worth to zoom in on this case and to take a look at which Indonesian airlines are most reliable in terms of departure punctuality.
Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, the nation's top class airline, targets to fly 27.5 million people in 2016, up 10 percent year-on-year (y/y) from the airline's total number of air passengers last year. Passenger growth is supported by the arrival of five new wide-body airplanes in 2016. The company, listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange but majority-owned by the Indonesian government (60.6 percent), is particularly eager to boost the number of international passengers.
In line with the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of the year, the ASEAN Open Skies policy (also known as the ASEAN Single Aviation Market) should become fully effective later this year. The ASEAN Open Skies policy, a key component of the AEC, involves the multilateral agreement of all ten ASEAN countries to unite their skies into a single aviation market (hence liberalizing rules and regulations to a large degree) in a bid to boost the region’s economic growth.
While Indonesia is still mourning for the lives that were lost in the military plane crash in Medan (North Sumatra) on Tuesday (30/06), the Indonesian Transportation Ministry threatens to suspend operating permits of 13 Indonesian airlines that are being plagued by negative equity, raising concerns about these airlines’ safety practices. The Transportation Ministry reviewed audited financial reports of 60 local carriers. These airlines will have time until 31 July 2015 to adjust their balance sheets.
The number of air passengers in Indonesia will most likely fail to meet its growth target in 2014. Based on government data, the number of air passengers in Southeast Asia’s largest economy reached 47.5 million in the first eight months of 2014, a 5.82 percentage point growth from the same period last year. However, the Indonesia National Air Carrier Association (INACA) initially targeted annual passenger growth in the range of 12-15 percent for 2014. Amid slowing economic growth, people’s purchasing power has declined.
The mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Saturday 7 March 2014 reminds us that flying does not go without risks. Although it is popularly said that flying in an airplane is safer than driving in a car - and despite the fact that Malaysia Airlines is a world-class airline - it is worth taking a closer look at the current state of aviation in the Asia Pacific, Indonesia in particular, as air traffic in the Asia Pacific has been booming (and budget airlines mushroomed) in recent years due to the expanding middle class.
Airport Council International (ACI), the only global trade representative of the world's airports, stated that Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, located just outside the capital city of Jakarta, has climbed one spot and is now ranked the world’s 8th busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers (over the year 2013) and was the 4th busiest airport in the Asia Pacific after Beijing Capital International Airport, Haneda International Airport (Tokyo), and Dubai International Airport.
On Friday 10 January 2014, the government of Indonesia opened Halim Airport for scheduled commercial flights. Previously, the only airport that served these types of flights around Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta and surrounding towns was the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (Soetta), located in Cengkareng (Banten). However, the amount of daily passengers at Soetta has exceeded its capacity. Based on data from Airports Council International, released in 2013, Soetta is the world's tenth busiest airport.
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