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PROMOTIONAL programs are carried out by airlines ranging from flexible tickets to providing free rapid tests to welcome Indonesia’s 75th anniversary. This strategy is carried out by transportation service operators to restore public confidence to return to using mass transportation modes in the midst of the unfinished corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic.
It is undeniable that one of the causes of the transportation sector to experience a decline in performance in the second quarter of 2020 is the behavior of people who choose to limit the use of mass transportation modes for fear of being exposed to the corona virus.
Of course, in this case the implementation of strict health protocols during the trip as well as before and after is not negotiable. Operators must be able to convince the public that their fleet as much as possible will not become a new cluster for the spread of COVID-19.
In addition, it is equally important to offer flexibility when it comes to ticket reservations. Because conditions are still full of uncertainty, people think many times before deciding to buy travel tickets.
It does not rule out the possibility of tickets that have been purchased not being used or have to be forfeited for one reason or another. Of course this causes losses for passengers and a solution needs to be found.
Citilink Indonesia airline (Citilink) has prepared a special strategy to overcome this problem, namely the Flexy Flight program which allows customers to change flight schedules easily without the need to pay additional costs.
Not only that, according to the President Director of Citilink Indonesia Juliandra Nurtjahjo, his party is also developing the latest services on the BetterFly Citilink mobile application by adding a number of the latest features.
“Citilink has developed services on the BetterFly Citilink mobile application by adding additional features such as entertainment, hotel search, and various digital payment methods, so that people can easily access Citilink services,” he said.
This step was quite fruitful. Currently, Citilink has succeeded in increasing the flight frequency to 166 flights per day with 58 routes to 36 destinations.
Juliandra revealed that Citilink has also reopened flight routes that were previously closed, such as the Surabaya-Banyuwangi, Bandung-Halim, Halim-Jogja, Medan-Gunung Sitoli routes which were flown by ATR 72-600 aircraft.
To attract passengers, Citilink has also prepared various thematic aviation programs such as the current theme of the Independence of the Republic of Indonesia. Not only that, there is also a free rapid test program for passengers for a certain period. Of course, all of these efforts are still accompanied by the implementation of strict health protocols.
“In increasing public confidence to return to traveling using air transportation, Citilink ensures the implementation of strict health protocols in all lines of company operations, from pre-, in-, to post-flight,” Juliandra noted.
Meanwhile, ticket promotion is still a strategy of PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk. (Persero) to restore public interest in traveling using air transportation and of course restoring company performance.
Meanwhile, the President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfaniaputra, said that ticket promotions were not carried out alone. His party will hold a third party to assist in these efforts.
“We continue to encourage promotion. Occasional ticket promotions. But the joint promotion of the ecosystem [which] we will promote,” he affirmed.
Currently, the state-owned airline has offered promotional flight fares with discounts of up to 45% to arouse public interest in traveling using air transport again. Promotion of flight tickets starts with offers to Bali starting at IDR1.5 million, Lombok starting at IDR1.5 million, Yogyakarta starting from IDR900,000, Labuan Bajo starting from IDR2.1 million, and Medan starting from IDR1.5 million.
Irfan added that Garuda also ensured that no health protocols were violated during the flight. Garuda Indonesia consistently implements physical distancing in all available service classes. In addition, it also ensures that all passengers on board have gone through body temperature checks and validation of the results of the rapid test or PCR test.
“Garuda Indonesia is consistent in implementing physical distancing. We ensure that all passengers are at a distance from each other. For economy class, we empty the middle seat. Business class for the middle seat is filled with only one [passenger],” he sconcluded. [bisnis.com/photo special]
