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Tickets to include airport tax starting January
Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said that all airlines must include the passenger service charge (PSC), also known as the airport tax, in their ticket prices by January next year â simplifying things for the traveling public
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ransportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said that all airlines must include the passenger service charge (PSC), also known as the airport tax, in their ticket prices by January next year ' simplifying things for the traveling public.
'Airlines have no other choice but to follow [the decree],' Jonan told reporters on the sideline of the Indonesia National Air Carriers Association (INACA) annual meeting on Thursday.
The Transportation Ministry in September issued a decree stipulating that airport operators should no longer collect the PSC. Service charges should be included in the price of tickets and the airport operators should collect the charges from airlines.
National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia unilaterally started including the airport tax in its ticket prices in 2012, but decided to end the procedure in October after it cost the company losses of Rp 2 billion (US$163,961) per month from uncollected payments.
Garuda's IT system had adopted the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) billing settlement plan (BSP) to include the airport tax in ticket prices. The airport operators, however, applied a different system that did not match with that of the IATA.
Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar said that the airline was ready to reinstate the charges back in their ticket prices as long as all airports were ready to develop the system.
'We basically support the tax integration policy, as it will simplify passengers' transactions. We are ready to reinstate the charges,' Emirsyah told reporters.
Separately, Lion Group's general affairs director Edward Sirait said that airlines needed a clear understanding of how to implement the tax on multi-stop flights.
'The most important thing is that both airlines and airport operators be able to bring their perceptions into line on this policy, so what happened to Garuda will not be repeated in the future,' Edward said.
'For instance, if a passenger buys a flight ticket to Gunungsitoli [North Sumatra], that requires a transit at Kuala Namu, will he be charged on Kuala Namu's airport tax? The government should be clear about this,' he continued.
Meanwhile, INACA chairman Arif Wibowo said that a meeting was held recently between the ministry, airlines, airport operators and the IATA to discuss the procedure.
Arif, who is also the president director of low-cost carrier Citilink, which was among the first airlines that applied the policy, along with Garuda, said that the airline found no difficulty integrating the airport tax into the ticket prices.
'There are no technical aspects that we need to be worried about and the Transportation Ministry has coordinated with the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, as the procedure will involve state-owned airport operators AP I and AP II,' Arif said. He added that the government's non-commercial airports would also ready to apply the policy soon.
At present, the tax stands at Rp 40,000 per person for domestic flights from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang and Rp 75,000 per person at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar. Meanwhile, the tax is set at Rp 35,000 per person at Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang and at Rp 75,000 per person at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya.
AP II previously said that the company expected the process of including the tax in ticket prices to be completed by December this year.
