W

ith the number of airline passengers expected to increase surrounding the Islamic holiday of Idul Fitri at the end of July, five airlines have requested a permit to provide extra flights for the annual exodus.

Transportation Ministry director for air transportation Djoko Murjatmodjo confirmed on Wednesday that the airlines had submitted their proposals.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, low-cost carriers Indonesia AirAsia and Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air and its subsidiary NAM Air have together requested 62 extra flights for 28 routes to serve travelers in the days before and after Idul Fitri.

'€œWe estimate that there will be 62 additional flights per day for 16 days during the holiday to cater to surging demand,'€ Djoko said at a discussion.

He said that with increased frequency, the airlines would provide an additional 10 percent in passenger capacity, increasing total loads to 55,000 passengers per day.

The country'€™s third-largest carrier, Sriwijaya Air, said in a written statement that the airline would provide 28,750 additional seats during the holiday between July 24 to Aug. 4 for 15 routes it serves.

The routes include Jakarta'€“Kuala Namu (North Sumatra), which will be increased from two flights to three flights per day, Jakarta'€“Padang (West Sumatra) from two flights to four flights per day and Jakarta'€“Tanjung Pandan (Bangka Belitung) from four flights to six flights per day.

Meanwhile, its subsidiary NAM Air will also increase its flight frequency for two of its routes, namely Pontianak (West Kalimantan)'€“Yogyakarta from one flight to two flights per day and Surabaya (East Java)'€“Denpasar (Bali) from once to twice per day.

'€œThe service that we will provide during the holiday will be flexible based on demand. It is possible to add more flights if we see surging demand,'€ Sriwijaya Air senior manager for corporate communications Agus Soedjono said on Wednesday.

As previously reported, low-cost carrier PT Indonesia AirAsia will increase the frequency of the Jakarta-Bali route to 14 from the current 12 and Jakarta'€“Yogyakarta will rise to nine from the current eight flights per day. The airline will also increase the frequency of its Jakarta'€“Surabaya and Jakarta'€“Singapore routes.

Meanwhile, low-cost carrier Citilink has also expressed interest in adding flights during the holiday season.

These flights would serve passengers from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, East Jakarta, to Yogyakarta, Semarang (Central Java) and Palembang (South Sumatra).

The carrier will also add two new flight routes to Medan (North Sumatra) and Denpasar (Bali) from
Jakarta'€™s secondary airport.

The Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) estimated that the number of air travelers during the annual Idul Fitri exodus would increase from 3.68 million last year to 4.1 million this year.

In total, the number of homebound travelers using public transportation (including airlines, ships and buses) during Idul Fitri is expected to reach 18.4 million, a 5 percent increase from 17.5 million people last year.

Meanwhile, the Transportation Ministry'€™s research and development department estimated there would be around 27.8 million homebound travelers this year '€” including those using private vehicles '€” or an increase of around 7 percent compared to last year.