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INACA rejects govt’s plan to hike airfare for tourism fee
An additional surcharge would impede the aviation industry’s recovery after the blows dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Passengers prepare to board a plan run by airline Garuda Indonesia at I Gusti Ngurah Rai airport in Bali on April 29, 2012. (JP/R. Berto Wedhatama)
T
he Indonesia National Air Carriers Association (INACA) opposes the government’s plan to collect tourism fees by hiking airfares, arguing it would cripple the airline industry and put more of a burden on passengers.
INACA chairman Denon Prawiraatmadja said on Thursday that the surcharge would be “counterproductive” as it risks spiking ticket prices, deterring passengers and worsening airlines’ business conditions that were still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[The surcharge plan] could make it difficult to achieve the government’s initiative to expand air transportation connectivity,” Denon said in a statement, as quoted from Bisnis.
Indonesia saw 62.55 million domestic passengers travel by air last year, according to Statistics Indonesia. The figure has doubled from its lowest point during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
Despite the improvement, last year’s figure remained below the pre-pandemic level of 76.69 million domestic passengers in 2019.
Airline passengers have diverse travel purposes, the association chairman further explained, including business, family or personal events, official travel, education and tourism.
He argued that tourists represented only a segment of the industry and should not shoulder the levy alone.
