Airports across Indonesia have reduced their operational hours and services, including by closing terminals, following a drop in flight traffic as a result of government-imposed social restrictions to slow down the spread of COVID-19.
State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II), which manages airports in western Indonesia, is applying basic minimum operations at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, and Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta. The two airports are the main gates for people in Greater Jakarta to travel by air.
The airport operator is temporarily closing terminals 1B, 1C and 2F at Soekarno-Hatta, while terminals 1A, 2D, 2E and all of Terminal 3 will remain open for 24 hours. At Halim Perdanakusuma, AP II will adjust operation depending on the number of daily flights.
“The time slot [for flights] at Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma has decreased, flight frequency has also decreased following the work-from-home instruction and PSBB [large-scale social restrictions] in Jakarta,” AP II president director Muhammad Awaluddin said in a written statement on Monday.
“AP II and airlines are also making sure that only half of the seats on every flight is occupied”. According to Transportation Ministerial Regulation No. 18/2020, time slots for aircraft traffic at every airport must be reduced. The regulation also stipulates that each flight must operate at 50 percent of the total capacity to support social distancing.
Awaluddin said Aviation Security would ensure that passengers follow physical distancing rules and wear face masks at the airport. AP II has reduced the operational hours of 12 other airports.
“However, we are always on standby, anytime, if an airplane with technical or operational issues is required to make an emergency landing at our airport. We are also ready to operate for cargo planes transporting medical supplies or other medical needs,” Awaluddin said.
Radin Inten II Airport in Lampung, for example, is now open from 10am to 8pm instead of its usual schedule of 6am to 9pm and Supadio Airport in Pontianak in West Kalimantan from 6am to 6.30pm instead of 6am to midnight.
Meanwhile, Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport in Palembang, South Sumatra, is open from 6am to 6pm instead of 5am to midnight, and Depati Amir Airport in Bangka Belitung Islands from 8am to 5pm instead of 6am to 9pm.
This article is published in THE JAKARTA POST
