State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura (AP) I has acknowledged that the Lion Air Group requested a payment deferral recently.

Marketing and service director Devy W. Suradji told reporters on Monday that AP I had received the letter from Lion Air some time ago, asking for a payment deferral for the airlines’ airport parking, luggage handling systems, check-in counters, landing and aviobridge fees.

However, she did not mention the exact time the company received the letter or the amount Lion Air was due to pay.

On Monday, Lion Air issued a statement admitting that it asked AP I if it could postpone its January to March payment following rumors that the airline was struggling to pull through its finances.

However, Devy said, payment deferral — or even discount — requests from airlines were nothing new and that other airlines had made similar requests from the airport operator.

“It's not the first time for Lion Air to hand in the request to us," she said in Jakarta. "This also isn't the first time for us to receive payment renegotiation requests from airlines."

She continued that the requests were normal in business, especially during times when natural disasters strike. The airport operator would also receive such requests when the airlines’ route was slumping, or when they decided to change their route, among other cases.

When this happened, she said, AP I would try to find middle ground with the airlines. She also gave assurances that AP I was ready to coordinate with the related parties to find the best solution during the current slump in the aviation industry.