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Minister assures domestic LCC airfare cuts to start Thursday – with a conditional schedule
The Transportation Minister has made assurances over the planned cut to domestic airfares, but has added a previously unreported condition that the reduced fares would be available only at limited times.
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Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi (Antara/Wahyu Putro A)
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ransportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has assured that the 50 percent cut for airfares that will be effective starting Thursday applies to all flights serving domestic routes – within a limited schedule.
All Indonesian low-cost carrier (LCC) airlines agreed to reduce domestic fares as part of the government's effort to boost domestic tourism.
“[The policy] is for all [domestic] routes,” he said on Tuesday in Jakarta as quoted by tempo.co, following a meeting with Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
He elaborated that the reduced fares applied only to domestic flights operating from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Earlier, the government had announced that the 50 percent cut in the ceiling price for domestic LCC airfares would become effective on Thursday.
The cost-sharing agreement to reduce domestic airfares was made last week at a meeting that was attended by all aviation industry stakeholders – airlines, airports, fuel suppliers and state-owned air navigation firm AirNav Indonesia – as well as government officials.
Budi, however, declined to mention any possible sanctions the government would impose on airlines that did not cut their fares as agreed.
Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia commercial director Pikri Ilham underlined that the flag carrier would be cutting the fares of its LCC subsidiary, Citilink Indonesia. “We will start reducing [Citilink] fares on Thursday,” he said. (bbn)
