Pain and joy: Indonesia's civil aviation recovery
Close the curtains/text
Indonesia's civil aviation industry has recently seen a major recovery, with airlines climbing to new highs in flight numbers, passenger capacity and attendance due to increased demand for travel. Garuda Indonesia's CEO recently said its average passenger carrying rate has reached more than 80 percent.
Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia's state-owned airline, was recently on the brink of bankruptcy, but now the outlook is bright. The Indonesian government decided to invest another IDR 7.5 trillion (ABOUT $505 million) to support Garuda Indonesia's development. It has been reported that this amount will be disbursed before the end of the year.
But as in the U.S. when foot traffic resumed, the swarming foot traffic brought pain. Due to the large number of layoffs in the early stage of the epidemic and the large number of sealed aircraft, Indonesian airlines are now busy. Garuda Indonesia has a total of 72 aircraft, and 37 are still in storage. Of Lion Air's 109 aircraft, 25 remain in operation.
Due to the lack of supply, airfare in Indonesia has skyrocketed. Take the busy domestic Jakarta-Surabaya route, for example, which used to be as long as 150 yuan, is now as low as 600 yuan, an increase of about 4 times.
There are also two factors that have exacerbated indonesia's civil aviation busyness. One is the large number of tourists flocking to Bali; Second, muslims have gone to Jeddah for hajj. The Jeddah Hajj is an important trip for Muslims around the world, which has been interrupted for two years due to the epidemic and is expected to be very lively this year, with direct flight tickets currently sold for 10,000 yuan (RMB) one-way. The Indonesian government expects 125,000 people to flock to Jeddah this year, and Lion Air has opened Hajj flights in Jakarta, Surabaya, Palembang, Makassar and Medan.
Bali is a world-renowned resort beachfront and tourism has been recovering rapidly recently. Denpasar Airport now has more than 300 daily flights, routes to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have all returned to normal, and Taiwan Airlines China Airlines has just resumed flights. Since many tourists transit through Jakarta, Indonesian airlines have always had to put a lot of capacity on the Jakarta-Bali route.
In response to the combined growth in tourists, Hajj and domestic demand, the Indonesian Civil Aviation Authority has asked airlines to increase capacity immediately. Indonesian President Joko Widodo also recently pointed out that it is necessary to curb the rapid rise in airfare prices. It seems that companies such as Eagle Airlines Group, Lion Air Group and Srivijaya must step up their efforts to unblock more aircraft as soon as possible.
