Public Complains of Expensive Air Tickets; Ministry of Transport: Not Direct Flights

Air ticket prices have become a source of public complaint during the 2026 Lebaran mass exodus. The Ministry of Transport (Kemenhub) stated that expensive tickets are due to transit schemes falling outside the established fare ceiling framework.

Agustinus Budi H, Director of Air Transportation at the Ministry’s Directorate General of Air Transportation, explained that the transit pricing scheme operates outside the upper fare limit calculation because it is only designed for direct flights.

“Looking at reports on social media, the high prices are actually because the ticket prices are not direct flights,” he said in Jakarta on Tuesday (17 March).

Indirect flights, he continued, include examples such as routes from Cengkareng to Padang with a transit stop in Yogyakarta. Agustinus noted that the upper fare limit scheme is a regulation established several years ago, governed under Ministry of Transport Decision No. KM 106 of 2019 regarding the Upper Fare Limit for Economy Class Passengers in Scheduled Domestic Commercial Air Transport.

He stated that in 2019, the rupiah exchange rate stood at Rp14,000 per US dollar, while aviation fuel costs were still Rp10,000. Agustinus further explained that the rupiah has since weakened against the US dollar to Rp17,000 per dollar, whilst aviation fuel costs have risen to Rp16,000.

“There should be adjustments (to the upper fare limit) because our country enforces both upper and lower fare ceilings,” he said.

Without fare adjustments, he stated that airlines have implemented the upper fare limit during peak seasons such as Lebaran. According to Ministry of Transport’s supervision results at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Tangerang, Banten, air tickets are sold in accordance with regulations. He noted that ticket prices account for the commercial sustainability of airlines.