Airnav: There Are 1,380 Extra Flight Requests
This article has been translated by PwC Indonesia as part of our Indonesia Infrastructure News Service. PwC Indonesia has not checked the accuracy of, and accepts no responsibility for the content.
Investor Daily : Airnav: Ada Permintaan 1.380 Penerbangan Tambahan
16 May 2019
Jakarta — Airnav Indonesia has stated that there are 1,380 extra flights during the period of Lebaran 2019. Those numbers are divided between 1,336 extra domestic flights and 44 extra international flights.
“For extra flights, until now there 1,336 domestic flight [requests] from six airlines and 44 [flight] slot [requests] for international flights from three airlines,” said Airnav Indonesia Chairman Novie Riyanto in Jakarta, Wednesday (15/5).
He added, even though there were plenty of flights to accommodate homecoming travellers, the air traffic routes managed by Airnav would remain conducive and organised. If there was a request for an extra flight at certain hours that was not possible due to lack of capacity, Airnav would transfer the extra flight to a more vacant time slot.
“Hopefully it will be well distributed, we would not want any build-up. We will try for an even slot distribution in arrival and destination airports. We won’t allow an overcapacity,” Novie explained.
Novie expressed the Airnav’s tasks were quite taxing, because apart from organising extra flights, they would also have to be aware of weather conditions especially in some areas with active volcanoes.
“So we do have to make a concrete plan regarding the services. We also have to anticipate an eruption of a volcanoe. For example in Bali where there is heavy traffic and Mount Agung has to erupt, we have a SOP (standard operational procedure),” he said.
For the operational hours, he stated, his company would increase the working hours to a full 24-hour in some airports which were confirmed to be busy during the period, especially during the peak season for homecoming flights which were expected to fall on 29 May and for the return flights on 9 June 2019. So far there are eight airports which are confirmed to be operating for 24 hours, i.e. airports in Batam, Denpasar, Halim Perdana Kusuma, Soekarno Hatta, Manado, Makassar, Medan, and Surabaya.
“As many as 3,890 personnel. We consistently make sure that all navigation facilities are working properly and all the personnel are providing services as best as possible,” Novie said.
Earlier Lion Air Group prepared 133 extra flights with a capacity of up to 20,150 seats during Lebaran 2019 period. From that number, Lion Air has made available 62 extra flights, Batik Air 35 extra flights, and Wings Air 36 extra flights.
Communications Strategic of Lion Air Group Danang Mandala Prihantoro explained Lion Air Group would effectively run the extra flights from 29 May until 20 July 2019 which was expected to be the peak season for Lebaran homecoming and return flights along with the trend of millennial travelling.
“Lion Air Group focuses on serving the network to popular destinations based on the air transportation demand and projects this year’s growth to be at 10-15% from the airline’s total regular flight capacity,” said Danang.
In determining the city destinations, Danang continued, Lion Air Group took into account the result of the market analysis for the best route which had high demand, flight frequency, and also the working hours of departure and arrival airports. From the operation side, Danang mentioned that Lion Air Group was improving the human resources in airports which were a part of the extra flights.
Besides that, the company has also adopted a strategy to arrange aircraft operation mechanisms, that is to say Lion Air Group has 8-9 hour per day for aircraft utilisation with an average of six aircrafts going through maintenance and roughly five aircrafts acting as backup.
“The type of aircrafts used will be adjusted to the increase in the traffic in this season. Lion Air Group’s fleet is already equipped with modern technologies and features that will give comfort to each traveller when they’re in the cabin,” said Danang.
Lion Air will be operating 66 Boeing 757-900ER aircrafts (215 economy class), 38 Boeing 737-800NG aircrafts (189 economy class), and three Airbus 330-300 aircrafts (440 economy class). Wings Air fleet as of right now includes 45 ATR 72-600 and 19 ATR 72-500 that mainly act as feeders. While Batik Air uses 43 Airbus 320-200CEO aircrafts (12 business class and 144 economy class), 6 Boeing 737-900ER aircrafts (12 business class and 168 economy class), as well as 8 Boeing 737-800NG aircrafts (12 business class and 150 economy class).
