German Caucasians Make Noise About 5-Hour Queues

ILLUSTRATION/Bali Ngurah Rai Airport/PHOTO VIA ANTARA

DENPASAR - Head of the Bali Regional Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Anggiat Napitupulu, said that immigration services at the international arrival terminal of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport are able to serve more than 1,500 foreign travelers (PPLN) per hour.

Therefore, Anggiat ensures that immigration services at the airport remain conducive and under control despite the surge in passengers arriving in Bali in recent months.

"We have taken anticipatory steps towards the potential for overcrowding of passengers during peak hours by adding officers with a composition of 16 counters, where 1 content is filled with 2 employees," Anggiat said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, August 1.

On average, there are 47 flights from 22 countries that enter I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali, said Anggiat. Busy hours (busy/peak hour) usually occur from 11 am to 2 pm, because at that time there can be 10-12 planes landing at the same time. Each plane, Anggiat said, carried approximately 200-300 people.

Meanwhile, the number of passengers arriving at the International Terminal of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport per day can reach 7,000 to 8,000 people.

"The 16 counters are still representative of handling the number of arriving passengers," he said.

However, currently the situation is that there is one immigration counter that cannot be used because its appearance is still being embellished by the airport manager, namely Angkasa Pura I.

"With the beautification project (beautifying the appearance and facilities) in the international arrivals area, one immigration counter cannot be used temporarily, leaving only 15 counters," said Anggiat.

With this condition, 30 immigration officers who stand guard at 15 counters are still able to provide immigration services to 1,800 passengers per hour. Meanwhile, if 16 immigration counters operate, then there are 1,920 passengers who can receive immigration services per hour.

Regarding the information on overcrowding in the international arrivals area, Anggiat explained that it was not due to a shortage of officers or immigration counters.

Overcrowding can occur during peak hours at the airport, because the distance between arrival times between planes is not too far compared to other time periods.

Because of this, queues are difficult to avoid during peak hours, and on certain days.

However, Anggiat is not too worried about it, because during peak hours, passengers only need no more than 2 hours to pass the entire series of checks at the airport.

Meanwhile, during normal hours, the time needed to pass the entire circuit at the airport is no more than 1 hour.

It was previously reported that Anggiat Napitupulu asked a foreign national from Germany, Sebastian Powell, who wrote an article about the five-hour queue at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, to leave Bali immediately.

"We gave Sebastian a warning so that he had a visa on arrival which was 30 days earlier. We asked him to leave Bali or Indonesian territory before 30 days," Anggiat said, Monday, August 1.

According to him, the article written by German Caucasians was apparently not based on his personal experience. Sebastian could not confirm when and where the 5-hour queue occurred.

"The person concerned only tells what people say, but he can't be sure when it happened, where it happened," continued Anggiat.

This information was known after the Ministry of Law and Human Rights in Bali asked for information directly from the German Caucasian.

"We have asked the person concerned. Currently, the person concerned is still in Bali," he said.

From immigration tracking, this German Caucasian who arrived in Bali from Bangkok, Thailand spent about an hour from getting off the plane to undergoing immigration checks.

"From the results of the CCTV inspection, only 53 minutes," he explained.