T

hree domestic carriers received a warning from the Transportation Ministry for violating the government’s fare policy during this year’s annual exodus ahead of Idul Fitri festivities.

The ministry’s air transportation director general, Herry Bhakti Gumay, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the carriers were warned because they charged their passengers above the ceiling price imposed by the government.

“The airlines are Lion Air, Citilink Indonesia, and Aviastar. They charged the passengers 0.43 percent to 15 percent above the ceiling price,” Herry said.

Since this was the three airlines’ first warning about pricing violations, they would not be penalized, he said. “However, if they continue the violation after a second and third warning, their flight permits will be revoked,” he added.

According to the ministry’s data, Lion Air charged passengers 0.43 percent to 1 percent above the ceiling fare on nine routes, such as Jakarta-Palangkaraya, Jakarta-Denpasar, Jakarta-Surakarta, and Jakarta-Batam.

Meanwhile, Citilink Indonesia charged passengers 15 percent above the ceiling price for its Jakarta-Banjarmasin route, and Aviastar charged 3 percent above the ceiling price for its Jakarta-Ketapang route.

Contacted separately, Citilink president director Arif Wibowo said that the airline did not violate the regulation. “We did not violate the regulation. The Transportation Ministry’s data must be wrong because based on our investigation, that was the price for the Jakarta to Balikpapan route, not Jakarta to Banjarmasin,” Arif told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

“We do not know how they got that data. We have sent a clarification letter to the Air Transportation Directorate General on Aug. 16 regarding this issue.”     

Lion Air general affairs director Edward Sirait said that 0.43 percent to 1 percent was hardly a violation. “It is not violating the tariff policy, we just tried to round the price because most of our customers pay for the tickets in cash, and it is hard to give the change. The customers will pay Rp 700,100 for a Rp 700,050 ticket,” Edward told Post.

Based on Transportation Ministry regulation No. 26/2010 on ceiling price mechanisms for scheduled flights, a full service carrier is allowed to charge up to 100 percent of the ceiling price, while medium and low cost carriers are allowed to charge up to 90 percent and 85 percent, respectively.

The regulation imposes different prices for different routes. For example, it set a ceiling price for the Jakarta–Banjarmasin route at slightly more than Rp 1.4 million (US$148.36), Jakarta-Batam and Jakarta-Palangkaraya at nearly Rp 1.3 million and Rp 1.36 million respectively.

 Airline passengers travelling to their hometowns just a few days ahead of the Idul Fitri festivities had to spend more on tickets, as most airlines raised their fares to take advantage of the increased traffic.

The ministry recorded more than 3 million airline passengers during the holiday season this year, an 18.23 percent increase from the same period last year.