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n a bid to encourage airlines to operate more wide-body aircraft, the government will give incentives for domestic airlines that operate larger airplanes in some designated airports in the country.

Because wide-body aircraft carries more passengers, its operation in busy airports is expected to reduce flight frequencies thus reducing air traffic.

'€œWe will choose seven to eight airports in the country that will only charge 50 percent of their current landing fee for wide-body aircrafts,'€ Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said in his opening speech at the ministry'€™s National Working Meeting on Tuesday.

According to the ministry'€™s air director general Bambang Cahyono, among the airports that will provide the 50 percent discount fees are Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten, Kualanamu International Airport in North Sumatra, Juanda International Airport in East Java, Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali and Sepinggan International Airport in East Kalimantan.

Bambang said one of the reasons behind the country'€™s airports limited flight slots was the fact that a lot of airlines opt to operate narrow-body aircrafts rather than wide-body aircrafts.

'€œThe Jakarta-Surabaya route is mostly served by narrow-body aircrafts such as Boeing 737, which makes the airports very busy and sometimes force airlines to circle in the air before getting the permission to land,'€ Bambang told The Jakarta Post.

'€œWe want to encourage airlines to operate bigger aircrafts to help reduce the traffic at the airports, at the same time help airlines to operate more efficiently.'€

Bambang said the ministry would finalize the ministerial regulation this week.

Data from state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II, which manages airports in the western part of the country, shows that flight movements in 13 airports it operates is predicted to reach 666,101 this year, an increase of 4.43 percent as compared to last year.

The firm has recorded 297,501 flight movements in the 13 airports it operates during the first semester of this year.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia marketing director Erik Meijer separately said the firm supported the government'€™s policy to provide incentives in order to ease traffic at the country'€™s busiest airports.

He said, however, operating wide-body aircraft for the domestic route was not always efficient for the airline, unless it reached a high load factor.

'€œIn terms of operational costs, wide-body aircrafts are more efficient if being operated for long haul flights,'€ Meijer said.

'€œWhen it is operated to serve flights with durations of 1 to 2 hours, it wastes a lot of avtur [aviation turbine fuel], unlike narrow-body aircrafts,'€ he continued.

The carrier currently operates wide-body aircrafts to Makassar, Bali, Manado, Medan and Surabaya.

Currently, the landing tariff in Ngurah Rai International Airport for wide-body aircraft such as 777 that has a capacity of more than 300 passenger with a weight of around 140 tons reached Rp 639,660 (US$51.78) for every 100 tons of weight, plus Rp 8,171 for each additional ton of weight.

Meanwhile, the landing tariff in the country'€™s main gateway Soekarno-Hatta International Airport operated by Angkasa Pura II for wide-body aircraft is Rp 774,000 for every 100 tons, plus Rp 9,997 for each additional ton.