Citilink Stops Flights To Jenderal Besar Soedirman Airport In Purbalingga, President Director: Low Demand

Citilink aircraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Citilink has decided to stop flight operations to Jenderal Besar Sudirman Airport in Purbalingga, Central Java, due to low occupancy or demand. In fact, Citilink is the only airline operating there.

President Director of Citilink, Juliandra Nurtjahjo, explained that the decision to stop the flight schedule to General Sudirman Airport in Purbalingga was based on conditions on the ground. Juliandra said the occupancy at the airport was very low.

"We don't operate there (Purbalingga) because coincidentally the stuffing is very low on the 3rd and 4th Sundays of October", he said as quoted from Bisnis.com, Monday, October 25.

But unfortunately, Juliandra also did not explain exactly when Citilink's operational termination to Jenderal Besar Sudirman Airport was carried out.

Even so, Juliandra explained that the termination of the flight route to the airport in Purbalingga was only temporary. However, he also did not specify when the estimate would be to resume flight routes to the airport.

For your information, Jenderal Besar Sudirman Airport, located in Purbalingga Regency, Central Java, is reported to have stopped serving flights since late September 2021. Even though this airport has not been in commercial operation for a long time since it was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo on June 1 last.

Citilink, being the only airline operating at the airport with the PWL code, has stopped its operations. Citilink itself gets flight slots on Thursday and Saturday to operate the Jakarta-Purbalingga-Surabaya route and vice versa.

The news about Citilink stopping its flight operations to Purbalingga was first revealed by Public Policy Observer Agus Pambagyo.

"I wanted to book next week, it turns out that there are no flights. When I confirmed with Citilink, it stopped flying. Hopefully, it will not be like Kertajati Airport", he wrote in a Facebook post.