Airport taxes to rise by up to 100% in June

JAKARTA (JP): The country's two major state-owned airport operators announced on Monday a plan to increase airport taxes imposed on passengers flying overseas by 50 percent to 100 percent in June.

PT Angkasa Pura I and PT Angkasa Pura II, which operate 23 airports nationwide, said the hike would be needed to offset an increase in their operating costs over the past two years.

"The new airport tax will come into effect on June 1. It was approved by Minister of Communications Agum Gumelar on April 23," Angkasa Pura I public relations manager Gatot Sugiantoroat revealed at a media conference.

Gatot said that the airport tax increase would be the first since the economic crisis hit the country in late 1997. "The airport tax hike is a must if we want to improve our services for passengers," Gatot said.

The airport tax for local flights will not be increased.

The airport tax for passengers traveling overseas through the Soekarno-Hatta and Ngurah Rai airports will be increased by 50 percent to Rp 75,000 (US$6.50) from Rp 50,000 ($4.30), Gatot said.

Except for Kijang airport in Tanjung Pinang, the airport tax in the two companies' other airports would be increased by 100 percent to Rp 60,000 ($5.2) from Rp 30,000 ($2.6), he said.

Those airports include Halim Perdana Kusuma airport (Jakarta), Polonia airport (Medan), Sultan Iskandar Muda airport (Banda Aceh), Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II airport (Palembang), Sultan Syarif Kasim airport (Pekanbaru), Tabing airport (Padang), Husein Sastranegara airport (Bandung), Juanda airport (Surabaya), Hasanuddin airport (Makassar), Sepinggan airport (Balikpapan), Frans Kaisiepo airport (Bika), Sam Ratulangi airport (Manado), Adi Sucipto airport (Yogyakarta), Adi Sumarmo airport (Solo), Selaparang airport (Mataram) and Pattimura airport (Ambon).

In El Tari airport, Kupang, the airport tax will be raised to Rp 40,000 from the previous level of Rp 20,000.

Meanwhile, at Kijang airport the tax will only be increased by 33 percent, to Rp 40,000 from Rp 30,000, due to its low level of international air traffic, Gatot said.

Angkasa Pura II received Rp 152.5 billion in airport taxes last year, while Angkasa Pura I raised Rp 45.36 billion. (03)