Tuesday, 18 September 2012

AIRLINE INDUSTRY PROSPECT BRIGHT

National airline industry is optimistic that airline industry in Indonesia will remain prospective. Air transport which is increasingly accessible by many people has made airline industry prospect brighter. It is proven that in the 1st quarter which is the low season, there is a quite substantial General of Indonesian National Air Carrier Association (INACA), Tengku Burhanuddin, in Jakarta (Friday, 7/27/2012) said that this condition shows that airline industry prospect is still positive. Therefore, according to him, target of airline passenger growth is between 15% and 20% for 2013 is very realistic.

Tengku said that sharp increase in airline passengers can be seen from data of PT Angkasa Pura (AP) II. From 12 airports under the management of the company, in January-February 2012, it is recorded that there are 12.47 million passengers or increases 18.41% from the same period of last year at 10.53 millions. He explained that the factor that accelerates growth of airline industry is maintained purchasing power of the society and price of airline ticket which is increasingly reasonable. Increase in the number of passengers is also affected by Indonesia’s economic growth which is continuously increasing.

He was optimistic that potency of Indonesia’s airline industry is very promising. But, in line with that, he also reminded that competition in airline sector in Indonesia will be increasingly tight. According to him, competition is a positive thing in airline industry as it indicated increase of market segment. He added that last year, number of airline passengers reaches 60 millions. In the next 3-4 years, he predicted that number of airline passengers in Indonesia will reach 120 millions. National airline operators must be able to absorb growth in the number of passengers, he said.

According to him, to absorb growth of number of passengers, national airline operators must anticipate it by increasing number of aircrafts. He said that increase in the number of aircrafts. He said that increase in the number of aircrafts affects market segment that can be absorbed by the airline operators concerned. In addition to adding the number of aircrafts, airline operators also require a large number of pilots. He predicted that Indonesia will need thousands of pilots and technicians in line with rapid growth of airline industry in Indonesia.

He explained that with the rapid growth in air transport industry in Indonesia and the implementation of ASEAN Open Sky 2015 policy and Single Aviation Market policy in ASEAN by 2020. Indonesia will need at least 4,000 pilots, 7,500 technicians, and 1,000 air traffic controllers. He mentioned that growth in the number of new aircrafts is around 8% per year. Moreover, total Indonesian population has reached 240 million people. It is a potential market for airline industry.

But, he admitted that national airline industry has not been supplied by sufficient number of pilots and technicians. He said that aviation schools in Indonesia have not been able to meet the growing demand. Indonesia only has 13 aviation schools or mush lower than United States which has 1,076 aviation schools and European Union which has 369 aviation schools. The Indonesian government, airline operators, and other air carrier associations should cooperate to meet demand for pilots, he said.

He explained that pilot demand has so far been fulfilled by the Indonesian Aviation School (STPI) owned by the Ministry of Communications and 13 private pilot schools in Indonesia. If one school produces averagely 40 pilots a year, all of them only produce around 500 pilots. From the number, there is a shortage or deficit of around 200-300 pilots a year. Moreover, Indonesia still has remote areas and border areas in its eastern part which needs pioneer flight routes.          

 
Business News - August 1, 2012

No comments: