TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Singapore Airlines should not have raised its problems with the Soekarno-Hatta Airport authority to the presidential level. Not only is this an overreaction, it has led to concerns that it might upset relations between the two countries.

This is really a dispute between Angkasa Pura II and the Transport Ministry on one hand and Singapore Airlines on the other. The ministry reduced the number of slots for Singapore Airlines from October 30, 2016 to March 25, 2017, from 63 per week to 58. In addition to reducing the number of slots, the ministry revoked the airline's permit to fly from Jakarta to Sydney, which should have been valid from November 23. Admittedly, from a business perspective, this will have quite a big impact on Singapore Airlines' profits.

This is what led Kevin Shum, an official from the Singapore Civil Aviation equivalent to Indonesia's director-general of air transportation and no less than Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, to intervene. Kevin Shum visited the Transportation Ministry and asked for the reduction in slots and the revocation of the Jakarta-Sydney permit to be annulled. The Singapore prime minster wrote to President Joko Widodo about the same request. But this matter should be resolved between Singapore Airlines with Angkasa Pura II and the Transportation Ministry. Is it of strategic importance requiring a presidential decision?

There is a reason behind Angkasa Pura's policy with regards to Singapore Airlines. Angkasa Pura is resurfacing the runway, which is 1,600 meters long and 60 meters wide. This work will continue until December 2017, from 11pm to 4am. Clearly this will have an effect on the frequency of aircraft movement.

This resurfacing is important for Angkasa Pura. Apart from the runway surface being uneven, when improvements are complete, the runway will be able to accommodate wide-bodied Airbus aircrafts. With a new runway, Singapore Airlines will benefit because their huge airplanes will be able to land and take off from Soekarno-Hatta.

Singapore Airlines is not the only airline to be affected by the runway improvements, which are also underway at Juanda Airport, Surabaya, and Ngurah Rai, Denpasar. Other airlines such as Jetstar Asia, Oman Air, Emirates and Garuda Indonesia are facing the same problem. Therefore the attitude of Singapore Airlines gives the impression it wants special treatment.

The company's disappointment over the reduction in slots and cancelling of the permit for the busy Jakarta-Sydney route is understandable. After all, the airline has been promoting it in the run-up to the holiday season. Instead of discussing this at the appropriate level, it is regrettable that Singapore Airlines took it up with the head of state, especially if the problem is linked to Indonesia's disappointment with the Singapore Ministry of Transport, which in October failed to support Indonesia in its bid to join the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, Canada. If it had become an ICAO member, Indonesia might have been able to wrest control of the airspace over Riau from Singapore.

Transport Minister Budi Karya has said that the reduction in slots for Singapore Airlines and the revocation of the Jakarta-Sydney permit was entirely due to the runway improvements.

The Palace should return this matter to the Transportation Ministry and to Angkasa Pura. This "trivial" matter should be discussed between departments at the level of state-owned enterprises and directors-general. (*)

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