The Ministry of Transportation is starting to review options to allow airlines to adjust their flight costs for consumers. One of them is to apply the option of avtur surcharge to passengers.
In response to the increase in avtur prices, the Ministry of Transportation has begun to review options to allow airlines to adjust their flight costs to consumers. One of them is to apply the option of avtur surcharge to passengers.
This option was expressed by the Director-General of Civil Aviation at the Ministry of Transportation Novie Riyanto. However, Novie said there are special conditions that apply if the option of adding avtur surcharge, aka fuel surcharge, is to be applied.
Novie said that this option could be carried out on the condition that the condition of the increase in avtur prices continued for 3 months in a row and caused the airline’s operating expenses to increase by up to 10%.
In addition to the options above, his party will also review the option to increase the upper limit fare (TBA) on economy class flights. This option allows the airline to increase ticket prices more.
However, Novie stated that all available options were still being studied, no decision had been made by the Ministry of Transportation. What is clear, his party will also look at the condition of the people’s purchasing power in determining policies regarding air ticket fares.
Previously, the Chairman of APJAPI Alvin Lie said that the increase in tariffs in the current pandemic conditions must indeed be monitored based on the principle of reasonableness. He certainly wants the increase in avtur price not to cause a loss, but on the other hand, it should not affect the purchasing power of people in the economy class.
“We give consideration based on fairness. We don’t want airlines to lose money. But also consider the purchasing power of the people. One of them is cross subsidies, the possibility of a more expensive increase being charged to business class. As for the economy class, it is fixed or at a minimum,” he said, Wednesday (16/3/2022).
According to him, although in the end, the plane ticket had to go up, it should not be done permanently with the determination of TBA and TBB. The government, he said, could consider imposing a surcharge only when there is an increase in world oil prices.
It is known, based on Pertamina’s data, the price of aviation fuel for the period 15-31 March 2022 at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Cengkareng has reached US$87.50 per liter for international flights (international flight price). Meanwhile, for the domestic flight into plane/not into a plane category, Rp. 13,677.20 per liter.
The price has increased compared to the period 1-14 March 2022, meaning that the increase has occurred within two weeks. In the first two weeks of March, the price of aviation fuel for international flights was only US$76.90 per liter at the same airport. Then, for the domestic flight price into plane/not into the plane, it is Rp. 11,967.55 per liter.
