No Passengers During Emergency PPKM, Lion Air And Garuda Temporarily Close Flights To Kupang

A number of planes from several airlines were parked on the Apron of El Tari Kupang Airport. (Photo: ANTARA/Kornelis Kaha)

KUPANG - Two national airlines, Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air, temporarily suspended flights to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara due to lack of passengers. The lack of passengers followed the implementation of the Java-Bali Emergency PPKM.

Public Relations of Angkasa Pura I, El Tari Kupang Airport, Rahmat Sugeng, said that currently there are only three airlines operating, namely Batik Air, Wings Air and Citilink.

"Lion Air closed its operations to the NTT region because it did not cover operational costs after the emergency PPKM on the islands of Java and Bali. But it will reopen on July 21," he said as quoted by Antara, Thursday, July 15.

With the lack of incoming flight schedules, airport management was also forced to reduce airport operating hours from 06.00 -16.00 WITA to 06.00-15.00 WITA.

Rahmat added that the non-operation of the two airlines had an impact on the decline in airplane passengers through Kupang's El Tari Airport.

If on July 1 the number of planes coming and going reached 50 planes with a total number of passengers coming and going to reach 3,309 people, then as of July 13 the number of planes was only 19 units with a total of only 675 passengers.

"If it is a percentage, there is a decrease in the number of aircraft traffic reaching 53 percent, while passengers reach 132 percent," he added.

In addition to aircraft and passengers, a decline also occurred in the cargo or distribution section and the entry of goods through Kupang's El Tari Airport.

Rahmat said that if as of July 1, the number of incoming cargoes reached 26,486 units, as of July 13, the total cargo would only reach 10,142 units. With a decrease in the percentage reaching 192 percent.

Regarding airport closures, he said, AP I did not prohibit or close Kupang's El Tari Airport. Until now, El Tari Airport is still operating as usual.