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Bali’s Ngurah Rai, Incheon collaborate to boost air travel confidence
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Passengers board an airplane at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, in July 2016. (Shutterstock/Sony Herdiana)
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tate-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I (API) has announced its collaboration with South Korea's Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) regarding the implementation of the safe corridor initiative (SCI) at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali.
AP I president director Faik Fahmi said in a statement that the cooperation signed on Sept. 10 aimed to boost confidence among the public to travel by air as well as boost the country's tourism and economy.
Incheon is the world's first airport to receive the Airport Council International's Airport Health Accreditation.
The SCI is an alliance of airport managements initiated by the IIAC that aims to maintain their members' operational reliability through implementation of several health and security criteria, and help the aviation industry recover by building a positive perception among airport service users.
IIAC president and CEO Bon-Hwan Koo said Ngurah Rai was chosen as the first airport to implement the SCI program because it was one of the biggest airports in Indonesia and the most visited airport by Korean tourists.
As part of the collaboration, the IIAC will assess Ngurah Rai airport on inventory management, trained human resources, health communication, epidemic prevention and protocols and procedures such as competence related to departure and arrival. If all goes well, the IIAC will issue an SCI certificate and approval for the airport to become a member of the SCI.
As a result of the pandemic, Ngurah Rai airport served just 8,829 passengers in May, which increased to 19,816 in June. Following a relaxation of air travel restrictions, it saw the number rise to 77,472 in July and 172,721 in August.
"We're confident our COVID-19 prevention health protocols that have been implemented in all our airports, including Ngurah Rai, will fulfill the criteria required by the SCI guidelines. The SCI certification will then complement the World Travel & Tourism Council's Safe Travel stamp that we already received," said Faik. "All these efforts aim to convince the public that AP I airports have implemented global-standard health protocols and encourage [our customers] to no longer worry about doing air travel." (wir/kes)
