Call to Accommodate Budget Airlines

The Jakarta Globe, Putri Prameshwari, January 23, 2009 

New aviation laws have created the opportunity for private investors to build and operate airports catering to budget or low-cost airlines, an aviation official said this week. 

“As long as the investor is fully committed to serving the public, they can build such an airport,” said Budhi Mulyawan Suyitno, the director general of civil aviation at the Ministry of Transportation. 

Currently, passengers of low-cost carriers share the same terminals with regular flights. 

Under a 2009 aviation law, the private sector can take part in building and managing airports in the country. Presently, airports in eastern Indonesia are managed by state-owned PT Angkasa Pura I, while those in western Indonesia are operated by PT Angkasa Pura II. 

Suharto Abdul Majid, the head of the air transportation forum of the Indonesian Transportation Society, said that there should be a clear difference between low-cost carriers and full-service airlines in the country. 

“One of the problems is that Indonesian cities don’t have secondary airports that are dedicated to serving passengers of low-cost carriers,” he said, adding that regular airports charged high rates for carriers to rent hangars and aerobridges. 

Suharto said that the boundaries between the two kinds of airlines still remained unclear. However, he said, safety should be the main priority, ahead of offering low-priced tickets. 

“The government should make a distinction between low-cost and full-service airlines,” he said, adding that the main difference between the two was that “low-cost carriers sell food and beverages.” 

Airports for low-cost carriers should still offer safety and comfort for passengers, Budhi said. 

“But they should be simpler than regular airports,” he said. “The real challenge is how to make them comfortable for the passengers.” 

Following the fall of President Suharto in 1998, the country’s airline industry has grown rapidly. The number of low-cost carriers has increased, but passenger safety and plane maintenance have often been overlooked. 

In February 2007, seven of Adam Air’s Boeing 737-300 jetliners were grounded by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation after a hard landing in Surabaya, East Java Province, damaged one of the planes. A month earlier, an Adam Air jetliner with 102 people on board disappeared while flying over the Strait of Makassar.