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Airlines add 15 flights from Balikpapan for Idul Fitri
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A Batik Air Airbus A320-200 parks at a terminal at Sepinggan International Airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. (Shutterstock/File)
T
o prepare for increases in passengers at Sepinggan Airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, three airlines have added 15 flights to operate during the Idul Fitri holiday season.
“The airlines proposing extra flights to us are Sriwijaya Air, which proposed seven additional flights, Lion Air with five flights and Wings Air with three flights,” said state airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP) I general manager Handy Heryudhitiawan, the operator of Sepinggan Airport, on Wednesday.
The extra flights will exclusively serve the Balikpapan-Jakarta and Balikpapan-Surabaya routes. The extra flights will provide an additional 2,700 seats per day starting from Wednesday through the peak of arus balik, when people return back to cities after celebrating Idul Fitri in their hometown, in the third week of June.
“Jakarta and Surabaya remain the main destinations. Not including the extra flights, there are 23 flights to Jakarta per day and 18 flights to Surabaya,” said Heryudhitiawan.
AP I expects the number of passengers traveling via Sepinggan Airport during the Idul Fitri holiday season to reach 438,053 with a total of 3,571 flights. The number shows a 4 percent increase from 421,207 passengers and 3,434 flights during Idul Fitri last year.
“This year, we predict homebound travel will peak on June 9 while the peak of arus balik will be on June 20,” said Heryudhitiawan.
He said AP I would also open an Idul Fitri Transportation Service Integrated Post at Sepinggan Airport to prepare for any unexpected events both in flight and passenger movement. (ebf)
