TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
With few direct flights, Sumatra travelers take the long way round
When it comes to other modes of transportation, roads are the main travel option as the island’s railway system is not yet fully developed.
Change Size
Garuda Indonesia aircraft (Shutterstock.com/e X p o s e)
F
or people living in Sumatra, traveling by plane within the island can be a hassle. For an island as big as Sumatra, air connectivity remains considerably poor, with very few flights directly connecting even large cities.
Meanwhile, when it comes to other modes of transportation, roads are the main travel option as the island’s railway system is not yet fully developed.
For instance, there are four direct flights connecting Lampung to other big cities in Sumatra. However, Sumatra native Suci Fadhilah, who was born and raised in that city, only knew two of them.
“From Lampung, most likely, flights need to [transit] in Jakarta. So far, [for me] the only direct flight available [from Lampung] is to Palembang [South Sumatra] and Jambi,” Suci said.
People who want to travel from Padang, West Sumatra, to Lampung can either choose to transit at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Hang Nadim Airport in Batam, Riau Islands, or Sultan Thaha Airport in Jambi city.
These routes have limited flights and can get expensive, prompting most travelers to go by land with cars or buses, which take much longer.
“My grandmother had to travel for two days by road to get to her hometown Padang from Lampung,” Suci said. “But flying isn’t comfortable for her either because she would need to transit. It’s less convenient for her to disembark and then board another place with long walks [between airport terminals].”
