T

he idea to impose higher navigation fees for planes flying during peak hours will not be implemented anytime soon as air transportation stakeholders are yet to agree on the sensitive issue.

As previously reported, the Transportation Ministry said it planned to introduce higher navigation charges for planes that flew during peak hours in a bid to ease air traffic congestion at the country'€™s main international airports.

The plan is being discussed by the ministry and Indonesian Flight Navigation Service (PPNPI) or Airnav Indonesia.

'€œWe only plan to increase navigation fees for domestic routes from currently Rp 1,000 [8 US cents] to Rp 3,000 this year and not the peak hours charges,'€ Airnav spokesperson Muji Subagyo said.

He said that the increase in navigation fees for domestic routes would not be followed by peak hour charges.

According to him, the idea of higher tariff for flight during peak hours has never been discussed.

Muji'€™s explanation contradicted an earlier statement by Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono that the new plan would slap different navigation charges on peak and non-peak flights.

'€œAircraft that fly during peak hours will have to pay more. The policy is common in other international airports including Heathrow,'€ Bambang told The Jakarta Post recently.

Separately, the ministry'€™s director for navigation Nasir Usman said that the ministry had discussed the idea, but it had not reached final result.

'€œIt was an initiative discussed as a solution to ease congestion. However, we haven'€™t reached a final decision yet,'€ Nasir said.

According to Nasir, increased tariffs were usually proposed by the operator and later reviewed by the government as a regulator.

'€œThe government is tasked with protecting the interests of the public, as such the government rarely proposes increases of such tariffs,'€ Nasir added.

The plan to increase navigation fees for domestic routes and peak hour flights was opposed by the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) as the increased tariff would be an added burden on airlines, which had seen steep declines in profit last year on the back of the weakening rupiah.

INACA said that the government should consider the impact the higher navigation tariff would have on the public as in the end the airlines would pass the cost on to passengers.

Most of the country'€™s commercial airports are yet to keep pace with the fast-growing number of air travelers.

According to data from Angkasa Pura II, the operator of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the annual number of passengers at the airport was 60.13 million last year, nearly three times its annual capacity of 22 million.