Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – A number of airports in Indonesia are starting to get crowded with passengers. One of the increasing trends occurred at Soekarno-Hatta (Soetta) Airport in Tangerang, after previously being quiet due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Air traffic is getting more and more stretched at the busiest airport in the country. The peak of activity since the Covid-19 pandemic occurred on Friday, August 14, 2020.
Aircraft movements on that day reached 524 flights or 43.6% of the existing capacity, namely 1,200 flights / day. Not only flying traffic has increased, the number of passengers has also reached its peak, reaching 45,745 passengers a day.
President Director of PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero) Muhammad Awaluddin said, 500 flights / day is expected to be the latest psychological number at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. He considered the driving factor for the high number of flights on August 14, one of which was the long weekend.
“This indicates that people’s travel patterns by plane have started to recover, where normal flight conditions during the long weekend period are quite high,” Awaluddin said in his statement, Saturday (15/8/20).
Previously, in the midst of this pandemic, the movement of aircraft in April 2020 was only about 200 flights / day. As for May 2020, there were around 100 flights / day and in July 2020 also around 300 flights / day.
Awaluddin considered that an increase was an indicator of maintaining public trust in the national aviation sector amid the pandemic.
“We hope that the trend of increasing aircraft movements and the number of aircraft passengers at Soekarno-Hatta Airport can be maintained. As many as 500 flights / day are also expected to become a new psychological number in the midst of this pandemic, so that the number can slowly increase again even higher. “he explained.
He predicts that the number of aircraft passengers at 19 airports can reach 2 million passengers in August 2020. As of July 2020, the number of passengers has reached around 1.5 million passengers.
In another location, Husein Sastranegara Airport, Bandung, which is also managed by PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero), is preparing to resume jet flights starting Thursday, August 20, 2020.
The Directorate General of Air Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation has issued a letter Number AU.004 / 3/20 / DRJU.DAU.2020 regarding the Arrangement of Flight Routes for Husein Sastranegara International Airport, Bandung, and Kertajati International Airport, Majalengka.
This is done in order to improve services for the community by taking into account the operational activities of air transportation during the productive and safe community activities from C-19 and the restoration of economic and tourism activities.
“According to the letter, Husein Sastranegara can serve scheduled flights on domestic routes with propeller planes [propeller] and jet planes for routes from / to Medan, Pekanbaru, Palembang, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan, Denpasar and Makassar, “said President Director of Angkasa Pura II Muhammad Awaluddin, in an official statement, Monday (17/8/2020).
In addition, he said, Husein Sastranegara can also serve scheduled flights abroad, scheduled / unscheduled flight routes for domestic / foreign, as well as domestic / foreign non-commercial flights.
Executive General Manager of Husein Sastranegara Airport Iwan Winaya Bahdar said preparations had been made so that jet flights could be carried out smoothly at Husein Sastranegara Airport starting August 20, 2020.
“Husein Sastranegara Airport last served jet flights in June 2019, because in July 2019 all jet aircraft operations were moved to Kertajati Airport. In the midst of this pandemic, regulators are rearranging routes where jet flights for a number of routes are carried out through Husein Sastranegara and we are ready to run. it starts August 20, 2020. “
“The airlines that have submitted their return to operate jet planes at Husein Sastranegara Airport are Lion Air for routes from / to Medan, Denpasar, Balikpapan and Makassar. Then, Citilink for routes from / to Palembang, Pekanbaru, Denpasar, Medan and Banjarmasin,” he said. Iwan Winaya Bahdar.
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