The Ministry Of Transportation Continues To Strive For The Recovery Of Airports Affected By COVID-19

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Transportation, through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, continues to try to restore airports, which have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic that has been going on since early 2020 has put pressure on the aviation industry.

"The pandemic has made the movement of aircraft and the number of passengers at all airports experience a significant decline," said Plt. Director General of Civil Aviation Nur Isnin Istiartono in his statement, Tuesday, September 20.

According to him, the decline took place in line with the tightening of the mobility of people's movements, to maintain health protocols. Such situations and conditions have caused a number of airlines to reduce their fleets and close less crowded routes, to reduce operational costs.

For example, Kertajati Airport, since the pandemic commercial flights, passengers at this airport have gradually decreased, and there are no airlines operating to serve passenger flights.

"It's just that, it doesn't mean that there are no operations at this airport. The airport continues to operate by serving flights for cargo, by continuing to strive for passenger flights again," said Monday.

The existence of an operational plan for the Cisumdawu (Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan) toll road next month (October 2022), will greatly assist faster recovery at Kertajati Airport. The toll road allows traveling from Bandung to Kertajati in just one hour.

"Alhamdulillah, starting from November Kertajati Airport will be ready to serve commercial flights and the plan will also be used to serve Umrah flights," he said.

According to Isnin, similar conditions also occurred at other airports, which were under pressure due to the pandemic, including at Ngloram Airport (Blora), Purbalingga Airport and Wiriadinata Airport (Tasikmalaya).

"Before the pandemic, at these airports there were already several commercial flights to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, and vice versa," said Monday.

These airports, except for Kertajati, can only be accommodated by propeller planes, with Halim Perdanakusuma Airport being the main hub. So, in addition to being affected by the pandemic, when there was a revitalization of Halim Airport in March to August 2022, the impact was increasingly felt for these airports.

"The revitalization of Halim Airport has a big impact on flights to airports that have just been built or developed," said Isnin.

After the revitalization was completed in early September 2022, Halim Airport was reopened for commercial flights and ready to welcome the international activities of the Indonesian G20 Presidency.

"Hopefully this is a good start, flight routes from Halim to surrounding airports can be reopened," said Monday.

Along with the recovery during the pandemic, according to Nur Isnin, it takes time to return to pre-pandemic conditions. Moreover, currently, the number of aircraft is still very limited to serve people throughout Indonesia.

"Compared to before the pandemic, the number of our aircraft that are ready to operate, only 55 percent to 60 percent of the number before the 2019 pandemic. Hopefully, by the end of the year there will be a significant increase in the number of fleets," he said.

It should also be noted that airports, like other transportation infrastructure, cannot directly generate traffic and mobility in the short term.

"The benefits of the presence of the airport will be felt in the medium and long term, when people's mobility is getting higher and they need fast and safe transportation options," he said.

Nevertheless, he believes that with good cooperation and collaboration between relevant Ministries/Institutions, and involving local governments and aviation stakeholders, this recovery effort will run well.

"We are continuing to try to recover so that the aviation sector will revive, the airport will be busy again and many flight routes will be reopened, let's make it happen together," he said.