H

igh demand for air transportation has forced the price of tickets sky-high, despite a new Transportation Ministry regulation imposing maximum prices.

Henra, 34, a public servant, plans to return home with members of his family to Pematangsiantar, North Sumatra province, before the Idul Fitri holidays in July.

He was taken aback upon learning that national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia had set Rp 2.2 million (US$165) for a one way trip to Kualanamu, North Sumatra, for the July 2 flight, four days before Idul Fitri.

Prices offered by Garuda’s low-cost arm, Citilink, are also quite high, hovering at Rp 1.7 million. “I will have to allocate Rp 2.3 million to Rp 2.5 million [for each person for the trip],” he said on Monday.

Henra said that he would scour an upcoming travel fair for more affordable travel options, though he stated that such price hikes were “acceptable” approaching the holiday, when millions of citizens are predicted to join the annual mass exodus.

Research assistant Dita Hanna Farida, 28, is also resigned to costly plane tickets for her journey to her hometown of Surabaya in East Java. “The fares for the flights are now above Rp 1 million. Last year they were still below Rp 800,000 to Rp 900,000, but it's fine,” she said.

Airfares have been gradually increasing since last month, despite the Transportation Ministry imposing maximum prices since February. The ministry said that falling oil prices were behind the new benchmarks, which are 5 percent less than the previous limits.

For instance, the Jakarta-Medan route has been imposed with a Rp 2.1 million limit for a full-service airline, while the minimum price is around Rp 632,400 per trip.

The ministry's director general for air transportation, Suprasetyo, acknowledged that high-season demand had driven ticket prices up. “During high season, demand is so high that airlines use the maximum price. It's normal,” he said.

The ministry estimates that the number of passengers traveling by air will reach 7.42 million over the course of this year’s Idul Fitri holiday, an increase of 7.62 percent from 6.9 million passengers in 2015.

Air passengers will account for around 25 percent of people returning home for the mass exodus.

The soaring prices have also been noted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). Airfares came in second — after broiler chickens — among commodities the price of which has risen sharply in the build-up to the fasting month, contributing to an inflation rate that reached 0.24 percent monthly in May or 3.3 percent year-on-year.

Suprasetyo said that the government would monitor airlines closely to ensure they complied with the maximum prices. “We'll conduct an online survey and ask the passengers,” he said, adding that certain airlines had violated the regulation last year, and that the ministry would issue warnings to any airlines that disobeyed the regulation.

Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia vice president of corporate communications Benny Butarbutar said that the airline adjusted its airfare tickets on a daily basis, according to market demand.

“We haven't reached the stage where we have to use the maximum price because the bookings are not full yet," he said.

Garuda has prepared 21,360 extra seats for the peak season, with expected busy routes from Jakarta to several cities, such as Surabaya in East Java, Yogyakarta, Medan in North Sumatra and Makassar in South Sulawesi.

Separately, Indonesia AirAsia corporate secretary and communications head Baskoro Adiwiyono said that the airline’s load factor had almost reached 80 percent. According to its estimates, sales will peak between seven days before and seven days after the day of Idul Fitri itself; AirAsia’s busiest routes are expected to include Jakarta to Denpasar in Bali, Jakarta-Yogyakarta and Denpasar-Yogyakarta.