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fter weeks of delay, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is set to include the passenger service charge (PSC), or airport tax, in the cost of airline tickets starting Sept. 28, an executive said on Friday.

Garuda vice president of communications Pujobroto said the airline would first implement the system at the country’s main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten, just west of Jakarta.

“In the first phase, we will implement the new system at Soekarno-Hatta before implementing it at all airports across the country,” Pujobroto told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

He said the execution of the system was almost a month late from its original plan on Sept. 1 because the airline had problems making its IT system compatible with the airport’s system according to International Air Transport Association (IATA) guidelines.

“We have to make sure that the integration of our system with the airport’s is in line with IATA standards because we are a member of IATA and want to deliver the best service to our customers,” he said.

The airline’s IT system adopted IATA’s Billing Settlement Plan (BSP) to include the airport tax in ticket prices.

Contacted separately, state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II president director Tri Sunoko said the collaboration with Garuda was aimed at accelerating passenger traffic in the crowded Soekarno-Hatta.

Tri said that by including the tax in ticket prices, passenger lines would be shorter.

“The annual number of passengers passing through the airport reached 51.2 million last year, very far from its maximum capacity of 22 million passengers. We have to do something to ease the traffic,” he said. The figure is predicted to reach 54.1 million passengers by the end of 2012.

To cope with the traffic, AP II is spending Rp 7.6 trillion (US$798 million) on expanding the capacity of the airport from 22 million to 62 million passengers.

The project is expected to finish by the end of 2014. Eventually, he said, all domestic carriers would have to integrate their IT systems with that of Soekarno-Hatta.

“We are optimistic that all carriers will include the tax in airline ticket prices by the end of the first half of 2013,” he added.

Moreover, AP II airports nationwide such as Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung, West Java; Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport in Palembang, South Sumatra; Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau; and Minangkabau International Airport in Padang, West Sumatra are expected to start implementing the same
system in 2014.

— JP/Nurfika Osman