Coronavirus Crisis; Angkasa Pura II Focuses on Domestic Flights

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II president Muhammad Awaluddin said on Thursday that the spread of coronavirus in Indonesia has not significantly affected domestic flight demands in the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport but has shown to affect international flights.

“The spread of the coronavirus had more of an effect on international flights. The effects of the virus have yet shown its significance as our domestic flight routes outweigh international flights,” said the president-director in a written statement.

Soekarno-Hatta mainly serves 75 percent domestic flights while 25 percent are international flights. He also elaborates that January 2020 saw passenger traffic up to 8.01 million in Angkasa Pura II-owned airports, which is relatively stable compared to January 2019 that saw traffic up to 8.06 million passengers. 

He also said that February saw a slight increase in passengers up to 0.09 percent compared to February 2019 which equates to 7.012 million passengers last year to 7.018 million this year. 

“We predict March 2020 will slightly drop up to o.o9 percent compared to the same month last year,” said the Angkasa Pura II president. He added that national carriers will likely increase the capacity of domestic flights to anticipate the growing demand for domestic flights amid the coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak. 

Angkasa Pura II runs 19 Indonesian airports that include the Soekarno Hatta International Airport which is the largest and busiest airport in Indonesia with 60-70 million passenger traffic. 

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH