The Transportation Ministry is gearing up for the country's full participation in the ASEAN air transport liberalization plan, saying it was set to issue a ministerial decree to include five international airports in the implementation.
Air Transportation Director General Herry Bakti S. Gumay said Friday the ministry had completed a draft of the decree, in which the airports would be officially named.
"Were planning to issue *the decree* by month-end," he added.
The ministry is currently preparing the five airports, namely the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Kuala Namu in Medan, North Sumatra, Juanda in Surabaya, East Java, Ngurah Rai in Denpasar, Bali, and Hasanuddin in Makassar. The Kuala Namu Airport is still under construction and operations are planned to begin in July next year. Indonesia has 187 airports, 27 of which are international airports.
Herry said other international airports in the country would still be able to serve regional flights through bilateral agreements.
The ASEAN open sky agreement took effect in December 2008 and is scheduled to be fully implemented by 2015. The agreement will allow regional air carriers to make unlimited flights to all 10 ASEAN member states.
Herry said although the agreement would practically remove all barriers for foreign carriers to serve the domestic market, "they will still have to comply with IATA *International Air Transport Association* code of ethics".
Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi had previously requested the full implementation of the open sky policy be postponed, saying the domestic airline industry was not ready.
When the agreement takes full force, it is likely to start a new era of low-cost regional flights and change the course of countries that protect their domestic markets by barring low-cost foreign carriers.
Indonesia National Air Carriers Association secretary-general Tengku Burhanuddin said he welcomed the government's scheme to gradually open the Indonesian market to other players in the region, but warned the agreement might benefit others instead of the domestic airline industry.
"Don't let the other *countries* make use of our market. Our market is huge and we have high economic growth. *If the ASEAN open sky scheme is implemented* foreign airlines will be transporting our passengers to Europe, whereas we want to do that ourselves," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said he hoped the government would not open all of Indonesia's international airports to foreign competition "until we are completely ready".
"Other *countries* are better prepared than us. We have to be on the winning side when the scheme is implemented," he added.
Herry said Indonesia would also benefit from the ASEAN open sky agreement.
"If we don't *open our airports*, investments will slow down, including in the tourism sector. It is only natural that *other countries* have an interest in our market. Indonesia is doing exactly the same thing by targeting huge markets like China," he said.
"We can not isolate ourselves. ASEAN leaders have agreed on the liberalization. Now *we must think of* what can we do to make sure the deal runs as planned," (adh)
