Air carriers hit 23m passengers this year

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The domestic terminal at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, west of Jakarta, has never been more lively.

It has also never seen such a mixed bag of passengers -- amid the office attire that the terminal was more accustomed to, T- shirts, worn-out batik shirts, and rubber slippers are now a common sight.

Airports all across the archipelago are witnessing similar scenes as cheaper air travel and a faster growing economy allow more people to take to the skies.

The Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) estimates domestic passenger traffic to reach 23 million this year, 31 percent higher than last year's figure of 17.5 million.

The association's secretary-general Tengku Burhanuddin told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the target set for airline passenger' growth this year was initially 20 percent.

"The higher growth is due to an improved economy, new airlines, more aircraft and greater affordability," said Burhanuddin.

According to the Central Statistics Agency, up to October some 17.92 million seats had been sold on domestic flights, already exceeding the total figure for 2003.

However significant, this year's climb does not surpass that of 2003, which saw a 43 percent surge in domestic passenger traffic from 12.19 million in 2002 -- the year the government removed airlines' floor fares and budget operators sprung to life.

For 2005, INACA estimates a more modest growth of between 16 percent and 17 percent in passenger traffic, providing economic conditions continue to improve and airlines expand their fleets. "Hopefully oil prices will also go down," said Burhanuddin.

There are 22 airlines and 35 companies that charter aircraft holding licenses to operate in the country. The government recently announced its decision to cease issuing new licenses, as the existing players are deemed enough to accommodate the demand.

According to INACA, the load factor for domestic flights on average is between 80 percent and 85 percent. Without new aircraft, the targeted growth would be hard to achieve, said Burhanuddin.

Indonesia's leading budget airline Lion Air is one of the players moving in this direction. Within three months, 14 McDonnel-Douglas MD-82, MD-90 aircraft, and Boeing 737-400 are expected to join its current fleet of 26 aircraft.

"As a company, our target for passenger growth next year is between 50 percent and 70 percent," said airline spokesman Hasyim Arsal Alhabsi.

"There is a large untapped market that we have to build," he said.

Meanwhile national flag-carrier Garuda Indonesia said that throughout this year, approximately 4 million passengers had traveled their domestic routes.

"There's only a very slight increase in passengers. We've missed our target due to several miscalculations, such as people's travel tendencies around the general elections," said sales director Bahrul Hakim, without specifying the target.

Garuda is optimistic that next year, people who postponed travel due to election jitters will start making trips, and sets a target of a 10 percent increase in traffic.

The airline also plans to ride with the low-cost carrier wave and expand its own no-frills division, the Citilink, with at least 10 additional aircraft.

"The domestic routes will be served mostly by Citilink, not our main brand," he said.