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95 aircraft parked at Indonesian airports as virus puts airlines’ operations on halt
According to state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I (AP I), 95 planes from various airlines are parked at its 11 airports across Indonesia for long-stay periods.
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Passengers wait for their flight at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali on March 18. (Antara/Fikri Yusuf)
A sharp decline in air travel as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced Indonesian airlines to ground more of their fleets.
According to state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I (AP I), 95 planes from various airlines are parked at its 11 airports across Indonesia for long-stay periods.
National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has the highest number of parked aircraft with 27, followed by Lion Air with 21 planes, AirAsia Indonesia with 19, Wings Air with 11 and Citilink Indonesia with eight aircraft, according to data provided by the operator on Monday.
The I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, has the most parked planes with a total of 30 aircraft, while Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, has 19 aircraft parked on its apron.
AP I, which manages 15 airports in the central and eastern parts of Indonesia, recorded a total of 17.78 million passengers using its airports in the first quarter of this year, an 8.11 percent drop from 19.3 million in the same period last year. Aircraft traffic also fell by 6 percent to 175,143 flights in the first quarter from 184,085 flights during the same period last year.
A combination of flight cancelations, travel restrictions and the sharp drop in air travel demand because of COVID-19 has also forced airports to adjust their operations by reducing their opening hours. AP I has decided to prolong its operational adjustments to deal with the drastic passenger movement at the airport.
“Angkasa Pura I is prolonging the adjustments in several airports until May or July, but we are not closed to the possibility that operational adjustments will be extended again if the pandemic shows now positive developments,” said AP I president director Faik Fahmi on Monday.
The pandemic has left more than 16,000 passenger jets parked around the world, according to data from Cirium, which provides travel industry data and analytics.
Meanwhile, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that 25 million jobs in aviation and all related sectors, representing 11.2 million jobs in the Asia Pacific, are at risk due to COVID-19,
