Limited Fleet, Ministry of Transportation Warns There is a Potential for Delays During Christmas-New Year Holidays

ILLUSTRATION UNSPLASH/Fasyah Halim

BOGOR - The Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) reminds prospective air passengers of the potential for flight delays that could occur during the Christmas 2025 and New Year 2026 (Nataru) holiday season this time.

The Secretary of the Directorate General of Air Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation, Achmad Setiyo Prabowo, revealed that the potential for flight delays arises as the number of fleets that can fly during the long holiday period is reduced.

Setiyo explained that of the 568 aircraft currently available, only 368 units are in serviceable status. Meanwhile, the remaining 200 units are under maintenance.

"The number of aircraft is 568 units, it turns out that only 368 are serviceable. So, colleagues, if there is a delay due to weather or due to technical operations, yes, because the rotation of the aircraft is indeed somewhat reduced," said Setiyo in a discussion in Bogor, Friday, December 12.

Setiyo said the number of aircraft units currently in existence has not yet returned to the level before the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2019, the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) recorded around 700 aircraft in Indonesia with airworthy status or ready to fly. However, the current condition is different, because the number of aircraft that are ready to fly is less than in 2019.

"Indeed, at this time, the fleet or fleet has fallen dramatically since 2019 because there was a COVID pandemic. Then after the pandemic, but it turns out that the movement of the fleet is not very significant, it has not been able to jump and is the same as before COVID," said Setiyo.

The Ministry of Transportation projects that the number of air transportation passengers during the Nataru period this year will reach 5,050,194 people. Of the total, 3,899,176 passengers from domestic routes and 1,151,018 passengers from international routes.

Setiyo compared it to the number of domestic passengers during the Nataru period the previous year, which was 3,700,210 people and the number of international passengers was 1,034,554 people.

"If in 2025, we predict an increase from 3.7 million to 3.8 million. Indeed, if we look at the numbers, our prediction is not a significant increase," he said.