TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Transportation Ministry responded a petition on a website Change.org for a lower ticket price of domestic flights. Air Transportation Director General Polana Banguningsih Pramesti ensured the existing tariff set by all airlines were still adjusted to the prevailing law.

Should there is an illogical price change, Polana will summon the airline immediately. “We will continuously monitor [the ticket fare],” said Polana via a phone call in Jakarta, Friday, January 11.

An internet citizen or netizen named Iskandar Zulkarnain on December 20 created the petition. Per Thursday evening at 17:24 local time, a total of 11,377 people had signed it, and the number strongly rose to 46,872 as of today morning at 11:33.

Iskandar noted in the petition that air transportation for the archipelago played a vital role for the country’s development, but the airfare hike would be detrimental for the public, particularly most of Indonesian are nomads.

The high price of domestic flight tickets that is above the highest limit tariff would hinder tourist to explore Indonesia, while the government is currently striving to promote tourism destination through its commercial dubbed Wonderful Indonesia.

The airfare is regulated in the Transportation Ministerial Decree No. 14 of 2016 concerning mechanism and formulation of flight tariff which can be openly accessed on the ministry's official website.

The regulation noted a detail list of the upper and lower limit tariff of a domestic flight to various destinations. According to Polana, the decree is still valid, and no plan to amend or revise it comes from Air Transportation Directorate General thus far.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO