Airlines introduce raised airfares
JAKARTA (JP): The country's airlines will introduce tomorrow raised airfares and add additional charges to tickets bought before Oct. 27 for flights departing today and onward.
The country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia announced yesterday that passengers also would be required to pay additional charges if they wanted to reroute any tickets bought before Oct. 27 to comply with the new rates.
"The additional charges for the rerouted tickets will just be imposed on the new routes based on the raised rates," Pudjobroto of Garuda said.
On top of that, Pudjobroto said, passengers will still have to pay a 10 percent value-added tax, a statutory traffic accident insurance premium and the airport tax.
The government approved last week an airfare increase of between 7 percent and 10 percent proposed by the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association to offset the rupiah's depreciation against the U.S. dollar.
The new rate of passenger per kilometer will be raised to Rp 286.54 from Rp 264.51. Based on the new airfares, the rupiah is rated at Rp 3,600 per U.S. dollar, up from the previous Rp 2,372 set in 1996.
Under ministerial decree No. 20/1996, dated April 3, 1996, signed by Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, airfares are increased automatically every six months in line with the rupiah's fluctuation against the dollar.
The government did not increase airfares last May, the beginning of the current six-month period.
The last time the government raised airfares was in April last year, when it increased the fares by between 14 percent and 23 percent. The previous increase was in 1993.
Indonesia has six airlines including Bouraq Airlines, Dirgantara Air, Garuda Mandala Airlines, Merpati Nusantara and Sempati Air.
Pudjobroto said Garuda will maintain its discount policy for children, the elderly, achiever students, retired army personnel and low-income people.
Children of up to two years old get a 90 percent discount, while children of between two years and 10 years old receive only a 50 percent discount. Elderly people of over 60 years old receive a 35 percent discount, achiever students 45 percent, retired army members 30 percent and legislators 25 percent.
Garuda gives a 10 percent discount for tour operators or tour packages and five percent for two-way tickets.
Airfares for business class will be 35 percent higher than economy class, he added. (icn)
New economy airfares for major routes
Route New rate Previous Increment(%)
1. Jakarta-Ambon 578,000 356,000 10.1
3. Jakarta-Banda Aceh 548,000 256,000 10.1
5. Jakarta-Biak 854,000 251,000 10.7
7. Jakarta-Jayapura 945,000 597,000 9
9. Jakarta-Medan 405,000 276,000 9 11. Jakarta-Palembang 158,000 280,000 8.9 13. Jakarta-Semarang 134,000 144,000 9 15. Jakarta-Surabaya 227,000 377,000 10 17. Jakarta-Yogyakarta 158,000 143,000 10.4