INACA Says There Are Three Challenges Faced By The Indonesian Aviation Industry,

Chairman of INACA Denon Prawiraatmadja. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Indonesia National Air Carrier Association (INACA) revealed that there are three challenges faced by the aviation industry in Indonesia today.

One of them is the repair of aircraft fares.

INACA Chairman Denon Prawiraatmadja said the three challenges needed serious attention from all aviation stakeholders.

The reason, continued Denon, is that the speed or slow recovery of the national aviation business depends on how national aviation stakeholders respond to these challenges.

"Three challenges faced, first related to the aircraft's spare parts import system (spareparts), secondly the fuel price of avtur which tends to rise, and thirdly the improvement in flight rates," he said at Park Hyatt, Jakarta, Thursday, November 2.

Denon mengatakan, bisnis penerbangan nasional pada tahun 2023 ini memang telah mengalami pemulihan pasca krisis akibat pandemi COVID-19.

Domestic passenger traffic in 2023 is estimated to reach 74.7 million or 94 percent from 2019 and international passenger traffic amounting to 28 million or 75 percent from 2019.

According to Denon, the current number of requests for flight services also tends to rise, but the number of aircraft operating has actually dropped.

This is because the process of importing aircraft spare parts takes a long time and costs are not small.

Furthermore, Denon said, this condition resulted in many aircraft that took a long time to be treated at the MRO and could not be operated immediately.

"In addition, aviation prices that tend to rise due to global socio-political conditions such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Palestinian war also affect flight operational costs," he said.

Denon said, the avtur cost reached 36 percent of the total cost of flight operations or total operating costs (TOC) so that the ups and downs of avtur prices affected the total TOC.

"Regarding aircraft fuel, in addition to improving the price of aviation fuel, it is also necessary to think about the use of sustainable fuel (SAF) in aircraft operations," he explained.

Meanwhile, he continued, the improvement in flight rates needed to be done immediately because the current tariff was set by the government in 2019, where the current conditions were different from the current one, especially in terms of avtur prices and rupiah exchange rates against US dollars.

"During 2023, INACA has carried out advocacy and other activities to help resolve these challenges in order to accelerate the momentum of national aviation business recovery," he said.

"We have collaborated with other stakeholders both at home and abroad such as the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, the Ministry of Transportation, and other ministries, as well as Boeing, Airbus, Embraer aircraft manufacturers, the International Aviation Airlines Association (IATA) and others," he continued.

Denon said INACA hopes that the recovery of the national aviation business can be accelerated by increasing close cooperation between stakeholders to resolve the challenges currently being faced.