Sluggish Domestic Flights This Year

Officer Airnav. (Photo: Airnav Indonesia)

JAKARTA - Perum, the Indonesian Aviation Navigation Service Provider (LPPNPI) or Airnav Indonesia, noted that the movement of domestic flights fell by 17.5 percent throughout 2019 or a long decline from the growth target of five percent.

"This year we have decreased by almost 18 percent," said Airnav Indonesia President Director Novie Riyanto in a discussion in Jakarta, Thursday, December 26.

The decline also occurred for international flights, but not as much as for domestic flights, namely 0.1 percent from the targeted five percent.

However, he continued, the movement of international flights actually helped to cover the revenue from the drop in domestic flight movements.

"The decline in movement is indeed tough, how about the impact on Airnav, but our income is 60-78 percent more than international," he said.

He added that the slowdown in the aviation industry does not only occur in Indonesia, but also abroad. Based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), globally there has been a three percent decrease in passengers compared to 2018.

Cargo flights also decreased by five percent compared to 2018. Throughout 2019, Airnav also recorded accidents caused by the air traffic system (ATS), namely zero accidents.

Meanwhile, based on data from Angkasa Pura II, Soekarno-Hatta Airport passengers decreased to 11 million passengers throughout 2019, namely 54.2 million passengers from 65.6 million passengers throughout 2018. Meanwhile, the overall decrease in passengers at airports managed by AP II, namely 18.85 percent.

The largest decrease occurred at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, even far below the total number of passengers three years ago throughout 2016, namely 58.1 million passengers.

Meanwhile, major AP II airports that experienced a decline, namely Kualanamu Airport, experienced a decrease of 2.5 million passengers from 10.4 million passengers throughout 2018 to 7.9 million passengers throughout 2019.