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A NUMBER of foreign nationals who are stuck in Bali have started to use jet plane rental services as an alternative mode of transportation to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport to be able to continue flights back to their countries.
According to the Director of PT Indojet Sarana Aviasi, Stefanus Gandi, said several foreigners often contact Indojet to ask if it is possible to fly to DKI Jakarta. On average, they have not been vaccinated and have several children under 12 years old and due to the implementation of the Emergency PPMK (restrictions on community activities) cannot continue to return home.
“Some contacted and asked if it was okay if the vaccine had not transited to Jakarta before flying to their country. There are also those whose children are under 12 years old, because they have not been vaccinated, so they cannot use commercial aircraft,” he said at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, (7/12).
According to him, quite a lot of foreigners who want to fly from Bali to Soekarno-Hatta are hampered by the Circular Letter of Transportation Ministry regulation No.45/2021 which requires passengers to be vaccinated. Mostly, they fail when it comes to ordering commercial planes that require pocketing a vaccination card.
Meanwhile, many of these foreigners have not been vaccinated because they have a medical history and the age of the children who participate are under 12 years old. We do not know the reason behind the foreigner’s return, whether it is related to Emergency PPKM. Based on Immigration data, until now there are at least 130,000 foreigners from various countries who decide to stay on the island of Bali.
Stefanus said that he had flown foreign passengers from one of the countries in Europe to Halim Perdana Kusuma Airport, because they wanted to return to their country via Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
He emphasized that the passenger only transited for a few hours in DKI Jakarta from Bali before finally flying abroad.
“We always coordinate with the task force and quarantine regarding passengers who cannot fly like this, and are allowed as long as they fulfill the provisions of the Emergency PPKM, such as carrying a negative PCR for COVID-19,” he explained.
Stefanus revealed that Indojet provides private jet rental services ranging from Hawker and Legacy types with a capacity of 6 passengers to 13 passengers with Jakarta-Bali PP rental prices starting from US$21,000. For now, the type that is mostly chosen is the capacity of 6 passengers. Apart from being used by foreigners, a number of domestic passengers who are facing the same problem as foreigners are also starting to rent a lot.
He stated that every week there is at least 1 aircraft chartered by family and individual passengers both to Bali and DKI Jakarta. The company claims that this charter mode is in demand because it doesn’t mix with the crowd as it does when use a scheduled airline. Another advantage is that passengers have time flexibility and are better maintained by health protocols. [bisnis.com/photo special]
