AP I views passenger surge in June as market reopens
19 June, 2020
State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP I) has recorded a significant upsurge in passengers in June, as the government relaxes travel restrictions and steadily reopens the economy.
The amount of passengers in the country’s 15 airports maintained by AP I was recorded at a lot more than 222,000 passengers in the first half of June, a stark contrast from around 76,000 passengers flying in the entire month of May.
Sultan Hasanuddin AIRPORT TERMINAL in Makassar, South Sulawesi was the busiest among AP I just managed airports in the earliest half of June, tailed by Juanda AIRPORT TERMINAL in Surabaya, East Java, which recently became an emerging COVID-19 epicenter.
“Throughout the starting to mid-June, there was an indication of passenger traffic increase from May, when the federal government was still implementing travel restrictions. AP I is normally optimistic that passenger visitors will gradually rise,” the company’s president director, Faik Fahmi, said in a news release Wednesday.
As a guideline for flights through the transition to the “new normal”, the government lately issued a circular on flights. The regulation permits airlines to improve passenger quantities per flight to 70 percent of the particular aircraft’s potential, up from the previous 50 percent, regarded as a major raise to the ailing aviation industry.
The pandemic-related large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) have severely weakened demand for flights. According to Figures Indonesia (BPS), the quantity of domestic oxygen passengers fell 85.18 percent year-on-year (yoy) in April to around 840,000, while international air passenger numbers fell 98.26 percent yoy.
Despite the surge in June, AP I’s final number of passengers between January and May dipped 40.36 percent to 18.7 million from the same period this past year.
The airport in the country’s primary tourism hub Bali, I Gusti Ngurah Rai AIRPORT TERMINAL, recorded the steepest passenger decline with 4.76 million passengers by May, a 47.13 percent yoy decline, as the country temporarily banned foreign visitors from entering Indonesia in an effort to support the spread of COVID-19.
Another airport operator, state-possessed Angkasa Pura II (AP II), also recorded a rise in passengers in early on June following a government’s travel restriction relaxation policy, which arrived to force June 8.
The quantity of passengers in AP II’s 19 airports doubled to 14,700 passengers on June 10, from an average of 7,000 passengers on June 8 and June 9.
The passenger traffic hike in both companies’ airports was also supported by airlines that had resumed flight operation. The country’s most important airliner, Lion Air Group, resumed businesses on June 10, after a non permanent flight suspension previously this month.
“The amount of passengers is slowly rising and stakeholders inside our airports will work to make certain that health protocols are implemented,” the company’s president director, M. Awaluddin, said on June 11 in an official statement.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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