January-March 2020, Flight Passengers Decrease 4.84 Percent

JAKARTA - The global and national pandemic of the corona virus or COVID-19 is considered not to have had a deep impact on airports managed by PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero) in the January-March 2020 period. Even so, there is still a downward trend in the number of passengers.

PT Angkasa Pura II President Director Muhammad Awaluddin said, from January to March 2020, the number of aircraft passenger movements on domestic and international routes at all PT Angkasa Pura II airports was recorded at 20.79 million passengers. In terms of this, it only decreased by around 4.84 percent compared to January to March 2019.

On the other hand, there was an increase in aircraft movements by 3.44 percent to 184,776 movements from the previous 178,624 movements. This is because in the first quarter of 2019 PT Angkasa Pura II only managed 16 airports, while in the first quarter of 2020 the company managed 19 airports. The three additional new airports are Radin Inten II (Lampung), HAS Hanandjoeddin (Belitung) and Fatmawati Soekarno (Bengkulu).

"The impact of COVID-19 has been felt since the beginning of the year, but only on international flights. In the first quarter of 2020, the decline in passengers has not been too deep," he said, through a written statement received by VOI, in Jakarta, Friday, April 3.

Awaluddin explained that 70 percent of PT Angkasa Pura II's airports serve domestic flights. He explained that aircraft movements have actually increased because airlines have increased their capacity to anticipate the increase in demand on domestic routes.

"Actually, national airlines started to get excited at the beginning of this year, after the issue of expensive tickets last year," he explained.

According to Awaluddin, the first two months of 2020, the flight was actually excited again. In fact, on a year on year basis (YOY) in January the number of passengers increased by 3.18 percent. Then, February rose 3.71 percent. However, in March it experienced a decline of 21.27 percent.

Awaluddin explained that the drop in passengers that occurred in March was due to the fact that the community responded well to the government's advice not to travel outside the city or abroad and chose to stay at home. Moreover, many companies have implemented a work from home system to break the chain of the spread of COVID-19.

At Soekarno-Hatta, Tangerang, Banten which is the busiest airport in Indonesia. It is recorded that the number of passenger movements during the first three months of this year at the airport was 12.09 million passengers, down 5.11 percent compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, aircraft movements at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, slightly decreased 0.26 percent or to 93,599 movements from the previous 93,847 movements.

In Kualanamu, Deli Serdang, as the second busiest airport managed by PT Angkasa Pura II, the number of plane passengers from January to February 2020 was 1.87 million passengers or decreased by 7.71 percent year on year (YOY).

However, aircraft movements in Kualanamu actually increased by 3.68 percent from the previous 15,657 movements to 16,223 movements.

"Even though the number of passenger movements began to decline in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all PT Angkasa Pura II airports continue to operate normally by always prioritizing security, safety, service, and complying with existing regulations," he explained.

In addition, Awaluddin explained, Angkasa Pura II also implemented various efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in accordance with regulator instructions as well as a number of company innovations.

Various efforts to prevent COVID-19 and the latest policies related to travel and the latest flight schedules can be seen from various media owned by the company.

"We do socialization about flight schedules, latest information, regulations or policies related to COVID-19 through various platforms such as the website, INAirport application, social media, and also through the Airport 138 contact center service," he said.

For your information, PT Angkasa Pura II currently manages 19 airports, namely Soekarno-Hatta (Tangerang), Halim Perdanakusuma (Jakarta), Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II (Palembang), Kualanamu (Deli Serdang), Sultan Syarif Kasim II (Pekanbaru). Silangit (Tapanuli),

Then, Raja Haji Fisabilillah (Tanjung Pinang), Supadio (Pontianak), Banyuwangi, Radin Inten II (Lampung), Husein Sastranegara (Bandung), Depati Amir (Pangkalpinang), Sultan Thaha (Jambi), HAS Hanandjoeddin (Belitung), Tjilik Riwut (Palangkaraya) and Kertajati (Majalengka), Fatmawati Soekarno (Bengkulu), Sultan Iskandar Muda (Aceh) and Minangkabau (Padang).