TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said several low-cost carriers had committed to dropping airfares of domestic flights on certain days until February 2020. Specifically, scheduled domestic flight ticket prices will be lowered by 30 percent from Monday until Thursday every week.

“This policy is airlines’ commitment which is initiated by Garuda Indonesia and then likely be followed by Lion Air,” said Budi Karya in his office, Thursday, December 5.

Budi Karya explained that Garuda was set to kick off the program in December. The plan had been conveyed during a joint meeting with the government. He predicted all domestic routes will be affected by the tariff reduction.

The drop, he went on, was in response to the public complaint about the significant price hike in flight tickets of all airlines since early this year. Several airline managements claimed the tariff adjustment was aimed at balancing production cost and adjusting to jet fuel or avtur price.

Transportation Ministry, Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, and SOEs Ministry had actually provided fiscal incentives for airliners to cut ticket prices. However, the Transportation Ministry mulled over other policies from the government and stakeholders to maintain the health of airlines even though they offered affordable airfares, such as re-calculating the avtur tariff.

“Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry had managed and set a new, cheaper price of avtur,” Budi Karya said. He further asserted that the government will apply a one-price avtur policy, both in the western and eastern regions of Indonesia.

FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA