ER
THE corona virus pandemic (COVID-19) caused almost all lines of business to come under pressure. One of the most affected is the aviation industry which must fight hard in the midst of this outbreak.
This was also felt by PT AirAsia Indonesia Tbk. The airlines that are under the AirAsia Group must also park almost all of their aircraft operating in Indonesia. This was done to support efforts to suppress the spread of the corona virus (COVID-19).
According to Director of AirAsia Indonesia Veranita Yosephine Sinaga in a virtual conference on Monday (4/5), said the conditions faced by the company today are indeed very difficult. There are many assumptions about how many months we have survived, depending on the assumptions used and the information used as analysis elements. In principle, this condition is very severe for many industries, especially airlines.
Vera explained that in the midst of a pandemic like the current principle taken by the company is actually quite simple. Namely, business can be sought, income too, but death does not. Therefore, AirAsia Indonesia upholds health problems.
“So we prioritize health protection, if we don’t minimize it now the fear of this pandemic is even longer. Because the aviation business is not running normally, companies are also tightening their belts by carrying out efficiency. This is done so that the termination option will be the one the last choice, “said Vera.
She added, AirAsia Indonesia also tried to run other businesses that could increase revenue for the company. One effort is to conduct cargo rental flights (cargo charter flights) and charter aircraft (passenger charter).
“From the crisis there is always an opportunity, not only the crisis has a negative impact. Previously our charter and cargo flight business was an add on business. But with this situation, we are demanded to be agile and adaptable and do this business more than ever before,” Vera noted.
AirAsia Indonesia domestic flights are planned to be reactivated on June 1, in line with the government’s flight ban. Meanwhile, for international flights, it will start opening on 18 May 2020 with the international route Surabaya-Johor Bahru and vice versa.
“We want to reactivate flights on May 18, namely international routes. Kuala Lumpur-Surabaya and Johor Bahru-Surabaya. The current situation is uncertain, every day there are new changes so we continue to monitor developments. Because of this the opening of routes is limited under special conditions. “So we are trying our best to fulfill the directives and appeals from the government,” she continued.
She pointed out that as is known, since April 1, AirAsia Indonesia has stopped serving scheduled passenger flight routes. Not to mention coupled with the rules on the prohibition of going home from the government. AirAsia is now focused on carrying out cargo flight operations.
“Since April 1, AirAsia has closed and rested scheduled flights. Referring to the call to minimize the spread of the corona virus, we are resting scheduled flights. If not scheduled, our cargo flights will continue to operate as usual and even increase,” she continued.
So far in, she concluded the aircraft can be used for cargo flights of less than 10 aircraft. There are a total of 28 aircraft, but currently, at least 10 of them are still operating. [kontan.co.id/photo special]
