Kualanamu Airport Inspection, Ombudsman Highlights Different Flight Conditions: PCR Passengers, Antigen Airline Crew

MEDAN - The Ombudsman Representative for North Sumatra highlighted the different conditions imposed for passengers and airline crew at Kualanamu International Airport, regarding COVID-19 free certificates.

The difference in question is that passengers are required to bring a letter from the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) examination, while the flight crew only brings the results of the antigen test.

"This is our finding from the results of a sudden inspection or inspection that we carried out at Kualanamu Airport," said Head of the Indonesian Ombudsman Representative for North Sumatra Abyadi Siregar in Medan, quoted by Antara, Thursday, October 28.

According to him, the provisions applied to flight crews do not conflict with the rules in the Circular Letter of the Minister of Transportation Number 8 of 2021, concerning Instructions for the Implementation of Domestic Travel by Air Transportation during the Pandemic Period.

The circular stated that aircraft personnel who will be on duty are required to show COVID-19 free results, based on PCR or rapid antigen tests.

"This means that the flight crew is justified in only using the rapid antigen test," he said.

However, Abyadi considered that the provision was not appropriate. Because according to him, both passengers and flight crew have a high risk of transmitting COVID-19.

Moreover, he continued, the letter of the results of the rapid antigen test for flight crews can be valid for seven days. As long as the letter is still valid, no validation will be carried out.

"This means that the risk of the flight crew to contract and transmit COVID-19 is also very high," he said.

Therefore, Abyadi suggested that there should be no difference in the application of the COVID-19 free requirements between flight crews and passengers.