TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chairman of the Indonesian Air Carrier Association (INACA) Denon Prawiraatmadja explained that all airlines are striving to meet the needs of the community with their respective capabilities after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“[The recovery rate] is now 80 percent. Lior Air has already had a lot [of passengers],” Denon said when met at his office, East Jakarta, Wednesday, May 17, 2023.

However, Denon claimed that there are still business-to-business (B2B) agreements between airlines and lessors that must be finalized. He argued that the aviation industry is different from other industries when they are hit by a pandemic.

Other industries affected by the pandemic, he opined, could start anew, but the aviation industry could not just go through it. Because they have to bear the burden of costs that cannot be just written off.

Denon also mentioned safety issues that need attention in the aviation industry. Many aircraft that had not been used for a long time needed to be inspected before they could return to operation. “I hope all airlines follow the rules,” he said.

Statistics Indonesia (BPS) recorded that the number of airplane passengers at five main country airports throughout 2022 reached 36.02 million people. This figure exceeded the number in 2020 (19.52 million people) and 2021 (15.99 million people), indicating the recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020 although the overall number has not matched the pre-pandemic level from 2017 to 2019.

The five airports are Kualanamu Airport in North Sumatra, Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang of Banten, Juanda Airport in East Java, Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali, and Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in South Sulawesi.

MOH. KHORY ALFARIZI

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