DPR Commission V Raises Concerns Over High Domestic Airfares Ahead of Lebaran Holiday

The chairman of DPR Commission V, Abdul Hadi, has raised concerns about the high cost of domestic airfares ahead of the Lebaran holiday, citing numerous public complaints on the matter.

This was stated by Abdul during a meeting discussing preparedness for transport infrastructure and services for the 2026 Lebaran homecoming period, held jointly with DPR Commission V in Senayan, Jakarta, on Wednesday (11 March 2026). The meeting was attended by the Minister of Transport, Duddy Purwagandhi.

“We have received numerous complaints about expensive tickets, Mr Minister, particularly air transport tickets. I tried checking earlier—let’s take Garuda as an example. For the Jakarta-Manado route on 17 March, I checked and found one-way tickets at 11 million rupiah. Then Jakarta-Jayapura at 15.7 million rupiah, Sir,” Abdul said.

“Then Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur costs only 8 million rupiah, Sir. Jakarta-Bangkok is 13 million rupiah. Jakarta-Singapore is 9 million rupiah,” he continued.

Abdul noted that airfares from domestic to international routes tend to be cheaper than domestic routes. He said the government has been requested multiple times to take mitigation measures regarding this issue.

“There is indeed a tendency for domestic routes to be more expensive than international ones. This is quite strange. Regarding this high ticket price issue, we have repeatedly asked the government to mitigate these expensive tickets,” he said.

Abdul explained that air travel is subject to luxury goods tax since it is still classified as a luxury item. However, he argued that everyone now uses aeroplanes as a necessity for travel, yet luxury goods tax is still applied.

“One example we received from airline colleagues is that in Indonesia, flying is still considered a luxury item, Sir. Yet today, flying is used by everyone—it is no longer a luxury item. Because it is classified as luxury, it incurs luxury goods tax. That is one example. The government has not been willing to eliminate the luxury goods tax on airfares to this day,” he said.

Abdul urged the government to find solutions to high domestic airfares. He also drew attention to how much cheaper domestic flights are in other neighbouring countries compared to Indonesia.

“Then there is the issue of spare parts and the costs of importing them. There is also the issue of aviation fuel—aviation fuel is already expensive, and it is also taxed. So I believe there must be a formula, Minister, to find a way out of this high ticket price problem. Because if not, we will be stuck here, and our people and society will be treated differently from their neighbours,” he said.

“Local [flights] in Malaysia are far cheaper than our domestic flights, and they receive different treatment from their neighbours. Domestic flights in Bangkok are far cheaper than ours, and domestic flights in Indonesia are extremely expensive—even more expensive than when we fly internationally. This is most peculiar, Minister,” he continued.

Abdul stated that the issue of expensive tickets needs to be thoroughly examined. However, he does not want airline operations to be adversely affected if ticket prices are adjusted.

“In my view, we must analyse this thoroughly. All airlines are represented here. How to break down this issue—of course, we must do so without affecting the minimum operational costs of airlines. If airline minimum operational costs are affected, planes won’t be able to fly, and it will further complicate our economy. Therefore, we need to find a solution so that we can address these complaints about expensive tickets,” he concluded.