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CITILINK is still conducting studies to ensure that it can reopen flight routes that were stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic, including from and to JB Sudirman Airport.
According to Citilink’s VP Corporate Secretary & CSR Diah Suryani said, currently the company is still conducting analysis and studies to see the level of existing demand, so that it can operate optimally.
“Including the potential to reopen routes that were previously closed, both in the western and eastern regions of Indonesia,” she said recently.
Regarding the plan, flight observer from the Indonesian Aviation Network Japri Gerry Soejatman actually assessed that the plan to revive commercial flights at JB Sudirman Airport would not be prospective with too minimal market share.
According to him, the airport, which is located in Purbalingga, together with the Ngloram Airport in Blora, has a limited market, namely people from Jakarta and Surabaya. However, for people from Surabaya the distance is too close.
As a result, it will be difficult for airlines to increase seat occupancy and the operating costs of ATR aircraft per seat kilometer are also not cheap and even tend to be more expensive than jet aircraft. The same thing has the potential to happen at Ngloram Airport, which can only be landed by ATR-class aircraft.
The distance between the airport in Ngloram and Semarang is too close, while for Yogyakarta, the location of the airport is also separate between ATR at Adisutjipto Airport and jets at Kulonprogo.
Gerry believes that the plan may be carried out after the revitalization and reopening of Halim Perdanakusuma Airport.
“Maybe if Halim wants to open for jets and propellers, you can try it, but Halim’s connectivity to other cities is limited. To be able to deal with this condition, the government and airlines really have to look at connectivity issues to which airports are practical. for the characteristics of the passengers and the airport,” said Gerry.
He added, however, if the important thing is that there are passenger flights, then it is better to be able to fly a jet, so that it can be connected to Jakarta as the main hub for domestic flights. [sources/photo special]
