TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After introducing three policies lowering airfares on June 20^th, the government evaluation will once again lower airfare’s upper cap or price ceiling following a meeting on Monday at the Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs.

The Minister’s secretary Susiwijono said that the government is committed to guaranteeing the availability of affordable flights for the public.

“We are committed to continuing providing cheap flights for people. In regards to flight schedules and sharing costs will be specifically discussed again in the next coordination meeting,” said Susiwijono on Monday, July 1.

He said that domestic low-cost-carriers will offer 50 percent discounts from its upper price cap starting on Thursday, July 4^th, which will only be offered every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The concession will only be made available for flight departures between 10:00 to 14:00 at each local airport.

“The discounts will be allocated for certain seats from the plane’s total capacity,” he said.

In terms of cost sharing, according to Susiwijono, the operational costs of these affordable flights are shared by the carrier, airport management, fuel providers, and Airnav. All of which, according to the state-owned corporation ministry, will not sacrifice any safety aspect.

Ever since November 2018, the airfare hike had indeed hit hard on the number of passengers in domestic flights. The government’s data shows that there were 29.4 million passengers flying domestic flights from January to May of 2019, which is a 21.33 percent drop compared to the same time last year.

MUHAMMAD HENDARTYO

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