Airlines
The last decade or so has seen a period of radical liberalization of the Indonesian airline industry. From just a handful of carriers in the ‘90s, there are now as many as 30 operating. This has had both positive and negative effects for passengers. The extra competition has meant cheaper fares, so the option of flying is no longer out of reach for many people. There are also many more routes than in the past, making previously isolated parts of the archipelago now more accessible. On the downside, licenses have been handed out, seemingly, willy-nilly to new companies, some of which have clearly failed to meet safety standards.
EU ban on Indonesian carriers
Indonesia woke up to this sobering reality in June 2007 when the European Union banned all Indonesian carriers from flying into its territory. This decision came on the heels of various accidents and incidents involving Indonesian airlines. The fact that only one of its airlines flew into Europe anyway was beside the point. The Indonesian aviation industry realized it had big problems. It reacted by revoking the licenses of a few airlines, and implementing a tiered safety-rating system for the remaining ones. It was not of much comfort to passengers that only the national flag carrier, Garuda, made it into the top category.
To be fair, accidents happen everywhere, and there has been a definite effort to upgrade, or to be seen to upgrade safety monitoring in recent years. Flying is, of course, the quickest, most effective way to get around the archipelago and airfares, despite the global trend of rising ticket prices due to the high fuel prices, remain quite affordable. Garuda is the best known, and priciest, domestic airline. It has quite an array of routes, covering the major cities and Bali and also flies to a number of Asia-Pacific countries, Australia and Saudi Arabia. The number two airline in the country now is the fast-growing Lion Air, which also flies many domestic routes (a few not covered by Garuda) and to a handful of neighboring countries. If you want to get to some of the remoter parts of Indonesia, you may have to use one of the smaller airlines like Merpati or Pelita. Jakarta is the main hub of the country, but most flights destined for the far-flung eastern islands originate in Bali. A typical airfare from Jakarta to Bali (1.5 hours) would be about Rp 1 million (US$110) on Garuda or around Rp 700,000 (US$80) on a smaller carrier. A longer flight from Denapasar (Bali) to Sorong in Papua (2.5 hrs) will cost about Rp 2.5 million (US$300) with Garuda.
No-frills Web sites
As in a lot of the world, cheap no-frills flying has galvanized the industry. In Indonesia, this is mainly in the form of Indonesian Air Asia, a branch of the very successful Malaysian company. Air Asia flies routes within the country, using Jakarta as its hub, and also connects various Indonesian cities to Kuala Lumpur. Unlike other airlines, purchasing of tickets is done exclusively online and prices vary according to availability and demand. Air Asia has a good Web site for this purpose, which is more than can be said of the other airlines. While many purport to offer online booking, their Web sites are often not functioning properly, if at all. Air Asia excluded, booking a domestic Indonesian ticket online is a thankless task, which is a real problem if you're outside the country. Having a good friend or trusted travel agent in the country would help. If you can get past their unnerving call for everyone to say a prayer before takeoff (no joke!), AirAsia is a good bet.
Delayed? Have some water
A problem is punctuality. None of the carriers is immune to delays it would seem, although some are worse than others (Garuda is considered not bad, while AirAsia is fairly bad). If you do face a delay, however, you can take comfort from a new government regulation, which states that passengers have a right to compensation for being made to wait - in the form of a little snack and some water.
Garuda Airlines
(0804-1) 807 807 or (021) 2351 9999
Lion Air
(021) 632-6038
Air Asia
(0804-1) 333 333
Contributor: Nick Aarons
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