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THE INDONESIAN government has announced a policy to reduce airline ticket prices for Christmas and New Year (Nataru) by 10%, which will be effective from December 19, 2024 to January 3, 2025.
According to the deputy chairman of the DPP of the Indonesian Travel and Tourism Association (ASITA), Budi Ardiansjah, said the policy is too late. The policy will have little impact on tourists who have bought their tickets well in advance.
“That’s right, it’s a little late because Nataru (Christmas and New Year) travel tickets have been purchased at least 2 or 3 months in advance, so they have little effect,” Budi said, Thursday (11/28), 2024.
In addition, Budi also highlighted the unusual habit of lowering prices during the peak season. “Moreover, it’s unusual to lower prices during peak season,” he said.
However, Budi expressed his appreciation for the government’s efforts to lower airfare prices. He hopes the policy can continue in the future to help revive domestic tourism and evenly distribute foreign tourists.
“But of course we appreciate this effort, hopefully it can be continued so that our domestic tourism can be stimulated again and the distribution of foreign tourists is also even,” Budi said.
Earlier, Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) said the government would reduce air ticket prices by 10 percent.
This airfare compensation will apply to flights during the Christmas and New Year (Nataru) holidays in 2025. AHY said the ticket prices could be reduced thanks to the cooperation of the Ministry of Transportation, Pertamina, Angkasa Pura and domestic airlines.
“The reduction in ticket prices to help our community and also drive the economy including tourism, so from all the elements above, including reducing costs or services at the airport including avtur and of course fuel surcharge, the ticket price can be reduced by about 10%,” said AHY in an official statement, Wednesday (11/27), 2024.
AHY said that the reduction in ticket prices was driven by three major interventions, first a 50% reduction in airport service rates. Then a 5.3% discount on avtur prices from the previous month, and a reduction in fuel surcharge for jet engines by 8%.
This intervention was able to reduce air ticket prices by 9.9%, which is equivalent to an average savings of IDR157,500 per ticket. Based on data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs IPK, the impact of this policy will be felt by all categories of passengers, from full-service to no-frills. The estimated total savings reached IDR472.5 billion during the holiday season.
“We hope this can be good news for people who also have families who want to go on holiday at the end of the year. Hopefully, this can also boost our creative economy sector,” AHY concluded. [sources/photo special]
