Airplane Ticket Prices Are Expensive, Jokowi Asks Erick Thohir To Add Garuda Indonesia Fleet

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) admitted that he received complaints regarding the high price of plane tickets when he went to the field.

Responding to the complaint, Jokowi asked Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi and SOE Minister Erick Thohir to resolve the issue.

"In the field, I also heard complaints, sir, the price of the plane, sir. I reacted immediately, there was the Minister of Transportation, I ordered this to be completed immediately," he said at the opening of the 2022 National Coordination Meeting for Inflation Control, reported by the Presidential Secretariat YouTube, Thursday, 18 August.

On the occasion, the former Governor of DKI Jakarta also asked the Minister of SOEs Erick Thohir to increase the number of Garuda Indonesia airliners.

The addition of the fleet aims to reduce the price of expensive airline tickets.

Although Jokowi acknowledged, it is not easy to return ticket prices to normal numbers considering the high international aviation fuel prices.

"Garuda, the Minister of SOEs, I also convey that I will immediately add more planes, so that prices can return to normal, although it is not easy because international aviation fuel prices are also high," he said.

Jokowi also emphasized that currently all countries are facing a very difficult situation starting from the COVID-19 pandemic which has not yet recovered and several countries are still at high numbers, then wars, food crises, energy crises, and financial crises emerge.

Therefore, Jokowi asked all line ministries/institutions including regional heads both at the provincial and district/city levels not to work standardly.

According to him, he was no longer able to work like his previous routine, because the situation was not normal.

"We can't use standard standards, standard standards, we can't. Ministers, governors, regents, mayors are also the same way, we can't work routinely anymore and we can't just look at the macro, we can't. It won't work. , believe me. Macro is seen, micro is seen, moreover, you have to look at the details through numbers and data," he said.