International Route Passengers At Juanda Airport Soared By Thousands

SIDOARJO - The number of passengers on international routes at Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, East Java experienced a positive trend in early 2022.

Juanda International Airport Manager Sisyani Jaffar explained that the number of passengers in January was 383 people, February 258 people and March increased by 5 thousand people.

One of the reasons for the increase in the number of passengers is the implementation of Umrah.

"Anticipation for this has been carried out long ago together with all stakeholders under the command of Pangdam V Brawijaya as the Commander of the Task Force. We have carried out simulations many times," he said as reported by Antara, Friday, April 8.

According to him, after successfully serving repatriated flight arrivals in January and February, Juanda Airport will again serve international flight departures in March.

Starting with the departure of Umrah charter flights on March 14, 2022, now Juanda International Airport is no longer only serving repatriated flights but has served Umrah flight services and regular international flights.

This is in line with the relaxation of regulations after the issuance of the Circular Letter of the Ministry of Transportation Number 42 of 2022 concerning Instructions for Implementing Travel of Foreigners by Air Transportation during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic. For passengers arriving abroad who have received a complete dose of vaccine at least 14 days before departure, they are allowed to continue their journey.

"We are ready to implement new rules for foreign travelers, both departures and arrivals," he said.

Based on the SE of the Ministry of Transportation, a 5x24 hour quarantine applies to foreign travelers who have just received the first dose of vaccine.

"If you have received a complete dose of vaccine, you can continue your journey to the destination city after receiving a negative RT-PCR result whose samples were taken upon arrival," he said.

Sisyani explained that the number of international passengers served by Juanda Airport continues to grow.

The total international passengers in March, international flight passengers were dominated by regular passengers which reached 3,048 passengers, namely 2,198 passengers on arrival flights with and 850 passengers on departure flights.

Until now, he said, regular international flight routes were dominated from or to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

"Then for Umrah flights from Juanda Airport, until the end of March we have served 2,180 passengers of which 1,592 are departure passengers and 588 arrival passengers," he said.

According to Sisyani, the highest number of international passengers served in March occurred on Saturday (26/3) where on that day it reached 917 passengers.

"On that day we served a total of 5 international flights, namely 1 Umrah departure flight, 1 Umrah arrival flight, 2 regular departure flights, and 2 regular arrival flights to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur," he said.

With the increase in the number of international flights, Juanda International Airport Management encourages airlines to make maximum use of the existing operating hours and discuss together efforts to increase the number of passengers while still complying with the applicable health protocol rules.

Sisyani appealed to those who wish to travel abroad to pay attention to the criteria and requirements that must be met.

"For the sake of the smoothness and security of this limited flight, we urge prospective passengers who will travel through Juanda International Airport to comply with all the provisions and rules that apply," he said.