Planes at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport of Indonesia (Photo: Antara) Hanoi (VNA) – The Indonesian Transportation Ministry has agreed to provide the aviation industry with a stimulus package worth 216.5 billion Rp (14.75 million USD) aimed at cutting costs and boosting demand throughout the COVID pandemic.
The ministry’s air transportation director general, Novie Riyanto, said that the stimulus package consisted of 175.7 billion Rp worth of service fee exemptions at 13 airports across Indonesia, as well as 40.8 billion Rp worth of subsidies for a flight capacity calibration fee.
The exemption would be available for flights booked between October 23 and October 31 with scheduled departure before midnight of January 1, 2021, the ministry stated.
The flight facility subsidy serves to ease the cost burden for airport operators, including state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP) I and AP II.
Novie expressed the hope that the stimulus will help lower the burden for those who travel using air transportation and reignite the aviation industry, which could spill over into tourism and other industries.
Statistics Indonesia data show that the number of domestic air passengers between January and August fell 56.99 percent year-on-year (yoy) to 21.6 million people. Meanwhile, the number of foreign air passengers in the same period plummeted 71.51 percent yoy to 3.5 million people.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) earlier this year estimated that Indonesia’s aviation industry would suffer a 49 percent passenger drop and an 8.2-billion-USD-fall in revenue this year from last year as an impact of the global health crisis./.
VNA
