18 March set as peak Eid travel day at airports with 570,000 passengers
JAKARTA — Indonesia’s airspace is preparing to handle its heaviest traffic load of the year. Based on projections from airport authorities, Wednesday, 18 March 2026, has been identified as the peak of the Eid travel period. This colossal movement scale demands flawless readiness across 37 airports operated by PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia (InJourney Airports).
The concentration of congestion on 18 March will focus on five national aviation hubs: Soekarno-Hatta (Tangerang), I Gusti Ngurah Rai (Bali), Juanda (Surabaya), Sultan Hasanuddin (Makassar), and Kualanamu (Deli Serdang). At these five gateways, the risk of bottlenecks in check-in processes, security checkpoints, and baggage handling will be at its highest.
InJourney Airports Chief Executive Mohammad R. Pahlevi has emphasised that operational readiness at these busiest airports is crucial, particularly to manage the sharp surge in passenger movements on this peak day.
To address this “solemn Wednesday,” InJourney Airports has activated a “Serving with All Our Heart” command post with hybrid functionality. This post serves not only as an information desk but also operates as a rapid response unit that monitors operational data in real-time. All data—from hourly passenger fluctuations, terminal queue congestion, to weather anomalies reported by the Meteorological Agency—will be processed to form the foundation for tactical decision-making.
“One of the command post’s duties is to monitor operational data as the basis for making accurate decisions. This data is vital for swift mitigation when passenger volumes reach their highest point,” Pahlevi added.
Cumulatively, total passengers over the two-week Eid period are forecast to reach 9 million people, a slight 2 percent increase from last year. However, the surge on one peak day (18 March) remains a threat to airport resilience if traffic management does not run smoothly.
The readiness of the command post, which will operate until 30 March, demonstrates that InJourney Airports is taking a cautious approach by tightening oversight from the outset.