Jakarta - The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy / Tourism and Creative Economy Agency (Kemenparekraf / Baparekraf) revealed that there are a number of airlines that are ready to present new international flight routes to Indonesia.
Tourism and Creative Economy Principal Expert of the Ministry, Nia Niscaya, in "The Weekly Brief With Sandi Uno" at Sapta Pesona Building, Central Jakarta, Monday (22/7/2024) said there are three airlines currently preparing the international flight routes, namely Jeju Air, Batik Air Malaysia, and Super Air Jet.
Jeju Air is an airline from South Korea that will open Incheon flight routes to Denpasar, Bali, and vice versa. "Jeju Air will open flights from Incheon to Denpasar starting October 27, 2024 which are scheduled to fly seven times a week with a capacity of 180 seats per day," Nia said.
Then, Batik Air Malaysia, will open flight routes from Kuala Lumpur to several destinations in Indonesia, namely Surabaya, Lombok, Padang, and Pekanbaru with a flight capacity of 150 passengers each. Kuala Lumpur-Surabaya and Kuala Lumpur-Lombok flights will have their inaugural flight on August 1, 2024, while Kuala Lumpur-Padang and Kuala Lumpur-Pekanbaru flights are scheduled for August 10, 2024.
Then, Super Air Jet will also present the Kuala Lumpur-Aceh flight on August 3, 2024 with a capacity of 180 passengers.
"If we look at it, the Kuala Lumpur origination can be utilized of course by people who live in Malaysia but this can also be from other countries. Because Malaysia is also connected to various parts of the world," she said.
Nia revealed that flight connectivity is very important to strengthen the parekraf sector in Indonesia, especially in terms of bringing in foreign tourist visits. Because around 70 percent of foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia use air transportation.
In addition, the addition of flight routes can also help Indonesia to achieve the 2024 foreign tourist visit target, which is 9.5 million-14.3 million visits. Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, as of May 2024, there have been 5.24 million foreign tourist arrivals to Indonesia.
"Aviation or via air plays an important role in providing connectivity to a destination," said Nia.