DPR Encourages Permanent Airplane Tickets To Drop 10 Percent During Christmas And New Year Holidays

Deputy Chairman of Commission V DPR RI Syaiful Huda. (Nailin-VOI)

JAKARTA - Commission V of the Indonesian House of Representatives responded to the government's plan to lower flight tickets by 10 percent during the Christmas and New Year holidays (Nataru).

The DPR asked the government to review the scheme for permanent aircraft ticket reductions because this plan is still temporary.

The current reduction in aircraft tickets to be carried out by the government is still temporal because it only applies for 16 days during the Nataru Holiday from 19 December 2024 to 3 January 2025. After January 3, 2025, the flight ticket fare will return to normal. Even though the current plane ticket scheme is considered too expensive for many circles," said Deputy Chairman of Commission V DPR RI Syaiful Huda, Thursday, November 28.

According to Huda, the permanent aircraft ticket reduction scheme is important to ensure an increase in aircraft passenger occupancy in the country.

He considered that if the plane ticket reduction scheme was temporal, there should be a review of aircraft ticket rates at every large momentum such as the Nataru holiday, Eid al-Fitr homecoming, or other momentum-momentum involving many public activities.

"Later, the public can wonder if Nataru's plane ticket goes down, but in Eid al-Fitr homecoming it is not or vice versa. So the study to reduce airplane tickets permanently is very important," he said.

Huda revealed that at least three components were made by the government to lower aircraft tickets. First, a 50 percent decrease in airport tax. Second, cutting fuel compensation for airlines (fuel surcharge) from 10 percent to 2 percent, and the third is avtur price discount.

"If you look at the plane ticket reduction component, it is still temporary. This means that it cannot be done in the long term because it will trigger losses for Angkasa Pura as airport manager, detrimental to Pertamina as the main provider of aviation fuel," he said.

The West Java electoral district PKB legislator, said there are several options that can be done so that the plane ticket drops permanently. Among other things, the VAT option is borne by the government, lowers the avtur tax, and opens a space for providing and managing avtur so that it is not dominated by one party.

"I think there is still room for permanent plane ticket reductions. We think it is necessary for our government to invite aviation industry players to talk together in order to find a formulation for lowering tickets that can benefit all parties," he concluded.