Constitutional Court Hearing: Alvin Lie Urges Transport Ministry to Take Firm Action Against Airlines with Frequent Delays
The chairman of the Indonesian Air Transport Users Association (APJAPI), Alvin Lie, has urged the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) to provide firmer guidance to airlines that frequently experience delays. Alvin made the statement during the eighth hearing of Case Number 190/PUU-XXIV/2026 at the Constitutional Court (MK) in Jakarta on Tuesday (18/8).
The hearing was scheduled to hear statements from relevant parties in the judicial review of several articles in Law Number 1 of 2009 on Aviation. In addition to APJAPI, the Constitutional Court also heard testimony from the Indonesian Pilots Association (IPI) and PT Lion Group regarding carrier liability for passenger losses.
Alvin stressed the importance of evaluating airlines with a record of repeated delays of increasing duration. “My hope is that the Ministry of Transportation will be firmer in providing guidance to airlines that repeatedly experience delays,” Alvin said in the Constitutional Court Plenary Courtroom.
The former member of the House of Representatives (DPR RI) also proposed that airline on-time performance (OTP) rates be published regularly. According to him, transparency of OTP data is crucial so that prospective passengers can assess an airline’s discipline and competence before purchasing tickets.
Furthermore, Alvin highlighted the use of terms such as rescheduling and retiming, which he said often obscure the actual delay situation. He also criticised the lack of on-the-ground information when schedule disruptions occur. “It is not uncommon that when a delay occurs, the staff at the boarding gate simply disappear. This is what triggers the anger of service users,” he asserted.
Based on a 2024 survey of 7,414 air transport users, 84 percent of respondents chose to fly for time efficiency. Therefore, Alvin argued that material compensation in the form of food or accommodation will never be sufficient to replace passengers’ lost time.
He argued that the main solution passengers need when a delay occurs is certainty of departure. Airlines should be obliged to help passengers continue their journey as quickly as possible, including by transferring them to another airline if necessary, in order to minimise the loss of irreplaceable time.