Erick Thohir Wants Airports In Indonesia To Be Like China And The United States, Why?

Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of SOEs)

JAKARTA - SOE Minister Erick Thohir revealed that later only certain airports in Indonesia will be open to foreign airline aircraft or implement the Open Sky system.

"With the COVID-19 pandemic condition itself, Alhamdulillah, we have spoken with the Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi and he supports how later airports in Indonesia cannot all become airports that implement a joint policy of opening airspace in Indonesia, including for foreign airlines or Open. Sky," said SOE Minister Erick Thohir at a Working Meeting with Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Thursday, June 3.

According to Erick Thohir, what Open Sky means is that Indonesian airports are opened so that foreign aircraft or airlines can land in Indonesian territory. The government must again be realistic, especially with the COVID-19 condition, it is also impossible for all points or airports to be open to foreign airlines.

"This is an opportunity for us to synchronize with other ministries, if some points or airports are opened for Open Sky, then from that airport Garuda Indonesia can spread to 20 cities in Indonesia," said Erick Thohir.

Thus, according to Erick Thohir, from an airport that is opened to foreign flights, from that airport if passengers want to continue flights to cities in Indonesia, they use Garuda Indonesia or national private airlines that will only serve domestic flight routes.

"This is what we are doing and we must see that some other countries such as the United States and China are also doing the same thing. We want to go to the United States and only a few airports are opened for foreign flights, not all cities. Likewise in China, it is like that " said the Minister of SOEs.

Previously, SOE Minister Erick Thohir said that Garuda Indonesia would focus on the domestic flight business by serving inter-island community trips in the country.

Erick Thohir refers to the Garuda Indonesia database, which is dominated by 78 percent of passengers to regional destinations with revenues reaching IDR 1,400 trillion. Meanwhile, the number of passengers destined for overseas was only 22 percent with the acquisition of Rp300 trillion.

The action taken by the government is an effort to save Garuda Indonesia from financial problems due to losses suffered by the company.