SOME 4.9 MILLION FLIGHT SEATS PREPARED FOR EID TRAVELERS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, June 10 (Antara) - The government has forecast that the number of air passengers traveling during the post-fasting Idul Fitri (Eid al-Fitr) holidays next month will increase by 2.8 percent, down from the 10 percent rise recorded last year.          The annual exodus of Eid al-Fitr travelers usually increases during the period between seven days before (D-7) and seven days after (D+7) the D-Day of Idul Fitri or Lebaran, which falls on July 17 this year.      This year, the number of Eid al-Fitr travelers is expected to increase two percent to reach 20 million. Travelers will opt for sea, land, or air modes of transportation. Some revelers heading to their hometowns will use their private vehicles and some others will utilize public transportation.          For those intending to fly to their hometowns to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr or Lebaran festivities, the government will prepare 4.9 million flight seats, despite its forecast of only about 4.2 million air passengers.          "We increase the seat capacity on flights by 2.5 percent only," Director General for Air Transportation Suprasetyo noted in Jakarta on Monday.          The Directorate General of Air Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation has prepared a total of 450 aircraft, with a flight capacity of 237,704 seats, for domestic flights and 69,665 seats for overseas flights.            The director general has issued a deadline for airlines to propose an increase in their flight frequencies. They should propose the additional flights three days before (D-3) of the D-Day. It is based on Law No.1/2009, which regulates that the proposal for additional routes must be submitted before D-3.          "Requests for additional flights must be made far before D-3. If it is less than D-3, the request will not be accepted," Director General Suprsetyo affirmed on Monday.          Among the airlines that have submitted additional flight requests are the flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Nam Air, Sriwijaya Air, and Citilink, the director general noted.          On the occasion, President Director of AirAsia Indonesia Sunu Widyatmoko remarked that his company has prepared 9.3 thousand seats for additional flights beginning from D-7 up to D+7 (July 10 to July 25) next month.          Widyatmoko stated that the additional flights will be operated on Jakarta-Yogyakarta, Bandung-Denpasar, Denpasar-Solo, and other routes.          In the meantime, Garuda Indonesia has also prepared 1.61 million seats for the post-fasting holiday of Lebaran in anticipation of the increasing demand for air transportation.          "For 2015, we have prepared 1.61 million seats for the holidaymakers leaving for and returning after Lebaran, from July 9 to July 27 (D-8 to D-10) to be exact," Vice President Corporate Communications of Garuda Indonesia Pujobroto noted earlier.           He pointed out that this figure is 8 percent higher than 1.49 million recorded in the same period last year.           In order to meet the significant increase in air passenger traffic recorded on several domestic and international routes, Garuda will add 16,044 seats on the Jakarta to Denpasar, Padang, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, and Perth routes.          The capacity will be increased by operating larger aircraft on the routes, or by introducing additional flights.          "Of the total additional seats, 10,620 will come from the operation of larger aircraft, while 5,424 others will be from the extra flights," Pujobroto pointed out.          Larger aircraft will be operated on the Jakarta-Denpasar route (22 flights), the Jakarta-Padang route (four flights), and the Jakarta-Surabaya route (10 flights), he revealed.          "For international routes, larger aircraft will be operated on the Jakarta-Singapore route (44 flights) and the Jakarta-Hong Kong route (10 flights). These routes were earlier served by B-737-800s," he stated.          Pujobroto further stated that 32 additional flights will be operated on 24 domestic routes and eight international routes.          The 24 domestic routes are Jakarta-Yogyakarta (8 flights) and Jakarta-Denpasar (16 flights), while the international routes are Jakarta-Sydney (four) and Jakarta-Perth (four).          "The extra flights will be served by 162-seat capacity B-737-800s," he revealed.          Based on data from the directorate general of air transportation, requests for additional flight routes covered Soekarno-Hatta Cengkarang to Solo (2 flights a day), to Semarang (2 flights), Yogyakarta (3 flights), Malang (2 flights), Pangkal Pinang (1), and Kualanamu (1).          Other routes are from Soekarno-Hatta Cengkareng to Padang (3), Surabaya (1), Pontianak (2), Denpasar (3), Batam (1), Pekanbaru (1), Batam-Jambi (1), Banjarmasin-Surabaya (1), Balikpapan-Surabaya (3), Denpasar-Surabaya (1), Padang-Medan (1), and Makassar-Surabaya (1).         Regarding the flight delays, the airlines are called on to improve their management and to offer compensation to passengers facing delays that exceed a certain set time limit.         The airlines should offer Rp300 thousand in compensation to the passengers if the delay exceeds four hours and should provide hotel accommodations if the delay exceeds the average time required for sleep.***3*** (A014/INE) EDITED BY INE  (H-YH)   (T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 10-06-2015 19:28