Protests Appear Including From Garuda Pilots Association, Ministry Of Health Affirms PCR For Airplane Passengers Due To Risk Of Infecting

Illustration - Commercial airplane mechanic checks the safety of the aircraft cabin before departure of passengers. (ANTARA/HO-GMF Aeroasia/Dewangga).

JAKARTA - The implementation of PCR tests on airplane passengers is emphasized to avoid the risk of contracting COVID-19 while in the cabin.

"The government's basis for using RT-PCR as a condition for air travel is that the reality is that there are many airplane passengers. Almost all airlines operate aircraft with a capacity of more than 90 percent," said Director General of Health Services at the Ministry of Health, Prof. Abdul Kadir, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, October 27.

Abdul said the effort to maintain a distance in the aircraft cabin is more difficult to implement than land and sea transportation modes. So to ensure that airplane travelers are clean from the potential for COVID-19 transmission, the RT-PCR test is implemented.

"It is the responsibility of the government and the private sector to suppress transmission. Without PCR, airplane passengers are at risk of being infected, so they must be quarantined," he said.

Abdul added that the Ministry of Health continues to increase the availability of laboratory facilities in various regions to support the tracking of COVID-19 cases through RT-PCR.

"The government's efforts to meet the needs of laboratories in the regions have prepared 1,000 available PCR laboratories," he said.

However, the Ministry of Health continues to identify which areas do not yet have an RT-PCR machine. "We will push the RT-PCR machine in the area," he said.

Previously reported, the Garuda Pilots Association (APG) expressed its objection to the rules regarding flight requirements to and from the islands of Java and Bali, which are required to show a negative Covid-19 test result using the Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) method.

"Airplane passengers traveling to and from the islands of Java and Bali are required to show a negative Covid-19 test result using the RT-PCR method within 2 x 24 hours, we from the Garuda Pilots Association (APG) express our objection to the SE," said the President of the Association. Garuda pilot Capt Donny Kusmanagri was quoted by Antara, Monday, October 25.

Donny said APG appreciates the government's achievement in reducing the number of COVID-19 transmissions and strongly supports the government's efforts in dealing with the pandemic with the vaccination program, as well as the implementation of health protocols, especially for domestic travellers.

However, his party regretted the application of the flight conditions rule, considering that the economic recovery from the air transportation and tourism sectors in the last two months had shown a significant improvement process.

"When the rules for travel requirements for air transportation are tightened again with the above rules, this will again burden prospective passengers and have a direct impact on reducing the occupancy rate of aircraft which ultimately hits the tourism sector," he said. serves to prevent the transmission of the virus on board and based on research from various parties shows the rate of transmission of Covid-19 on planes is very small compared to other modes of transportation.

Strict procedures and vaccination requirements are also applied to both flight crew and passengers