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n order to cater for an increasing number of homebound travelers choosing to take air transportation during the Idul Fitri holidays, Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan has instructed all major airports across the country to extend their operating hours.

Transportation Ministry airport director Agus Santoso said Tuesday that the extended operational hours were needed to anticipate possible flight delays during the peak season.

He said, however, that the ministry was still waiting for the full schedule of official operating hours from state-owned airport operators Angkasa Pura I and II, which would be announced on Thursday.

'€œThe extended operational hours will depend on the extra flights prepared by the airlines. Among the airports that will have to extend operating hours are Tanjung Pandan [Bangka-Belitung] and Halim Perdanakusuma [Jakarta],'€ Agus told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

During a coordinating meeting on measures to anticipate Idul Fitri festivities, Jonan said that 35 airports would be readied to anticipate the rising number of passengers.

Among the 35 airports, several of them have been operating 24 hours a day, including Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten; Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali; Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java; Kuala Namu International Airport in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra; and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia previously stated that it had prepared as many as 1.6 million seats for the holiday period from July 9 to 27. The number of seats will be an increase of 8 percent from 1.49 million in 2014.

The carrier is set to provide an additional 16,044 seats by operating bigger aircraft as well as extra flights during the holiday season.

Meanwhile, AirAsia Indonesia, an associate carrier of Malaysian budget airline AirAsia, has arranged for an additional 16,200 seats on 90 extra flights serving the Jakarta-Yogyakarta, Jakarta-Denpasar, Bandung-Bali, Solo-Bali, Bandung-Pekanbaru and Medan-Penang routes starting from July 9 and continuing until July 28.

The country'€™s largest low-cost carrier, Lion Air, has proposed around 18,000 additional seats to the Transportation Ministry to cater to Idul Fitri travelers.

'€œSeveral policies that will be implemented regarding air transportation include providing extra flights, improving services for passengers at airports by increasing the frequency of night flights and also improving safety and security,'€ Jonan said during the meeting.

The government estimates that the number of travelers using public transportation will reach 20 million during the Idul Fitri holidays this year, a 2 percent increase from the 17.4 million people recorded last year. The exodus usually occurs three days before and after Idul Fitri, which will fall on July 17 or 18 this year.

The data also showed that the number of air travelers during the exodus would increase around 8.5 percent from 3.9 million last year.

The ministry estimates that a total of 69,665 international passengers and 237,703 domestic passengers will be transported every day during the holiday season.