'Crazy Ah', Medan Residents Complain That Airplane Ticket Prices Are Still Expensive, KPPU Talks About Aviation Monopoly

Kualanamu Airport, Deli Serdang, North Sumatra/DOK BETWEEN HO

MEDAN - The price of plane tickets from Medan to various destinations is still expensive in the midst of soaring demand.

"It's crazy, the ticket price for the Medan-Pekanbaru flight has gone up by IDR 1,980 million. Whereas usually the most expensive is IDR 1 million," said one of the prospective Wings passengers at Kualanamu Airport, L br Ginting in Medan, as reported by Antara, Monday, June 13.

Even though it is expensive, said Ginting, it has to be bought because there are important and urgent needs.

Meanwhile, prospective passengers of Batik Air route Medan - Jakarta, G br Limbong also acknowledged the high price of plane tickets for Medan - Jakarta.

"Ticket prices range from Rp. 1.8 million to Rp. 2 million. For Monday Pekanbaru, the price is Rp. 1.3 million for Batik," he said.

Head of Regional Office I of the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU), Ridho Pamungkas Head of Regional Office I of the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU), Ridho Pamungkas, said that based on observations, there are several factors that cause flight tickets to be expensive.

Starting from the decrease in the number of aircraft fleet, the increase in the number of passengers and the increase in the price of aviation fuel.

Based on data in the field, ticket prices are expensive on routes that are not served by many airlines.

For the flight route from Medan to Banda Aceh for June 13, for example, with Wings Air the lowest price is IDR 1, 262,600 and Citilink is IDR 1,334,638.

However, for flights on Tuesday, June 14, when Airasia joined to serve this route, the price of Wings air was offered to be reduced to Rp. 646,400.

Citilink is priced at Rp. 1,011,128 and Airasia is selling at Rp. 755,500.

Such a business pattern is called the KPPU over and over. When Airasia serves, the price becomes competitive, otherwise the price becomes expensive.

"KPPU is aware of the behavior of business actors who sell tickets above competitive prices," he said.

In the concept of competition, Ridho emphasized that business actors are prohibited from taking advantage of their monopoly position to exploit the price that consumers have to pay.

Even though the price set by the airline is still within the range determined by the government regarding the Upper Limit Tariff for Economy Class Passengers for Domestic Scheduled Commercial Air Transport.

As well as regarding the Additional Fee for Economy Class Passenger Services for Domestic Scheduled Commercial Air Transport, but it still does not reflect a competitive price.

"To explore this allegation, KPPU Kanwil I will immediately call the airline management to explain how the pattern of determining flight fares is," he said.