People Should Plan 'Mudik' in Anticipating Expensive Tickets: BI

Padang, (Antaranews Sumbar) - People who want do 'mudik' (mass exodus of people returning to their hometowns) by using airplanes are advised to plan ahead of time to anticipate the increase in ticket prices.

"I urge the people who will go home to plan and buy tickets in advance to prevent price spikes," Chief of Bank Indonesia representative of West Sumatra, Endy Dwi Tjahjono stated in here on Wednesday.

According to him, the price of previous air tickets is one contributor to the inflation during Lebaran (Eid al-Fitr) in West Sumatra.

One way to anticipate this condition is travelers will buy tickets from the beginning, he said.

Previously, five airlines prepared additional flights for Jakarta-Padang route in anticipating the increasing number of passengers who are using the aircraft during Lebaran 1439 Hijriah.

"Until now, there are five airlines that have proposed additional flight namely Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air, Citilink and Batik Air," Public Relations of PT Angkasa Pura II as the manager of Minangkabau International Airport, Fendrick Sondra pointed out.

He mentioned Lion Air prepares four additional flights per day from June 1 to June 30, 2018 or a total of 120 flights.

Then, Batik Air prepares three flights per day from June 1 to June 30 with an overall total of 90 extra flights.

Then Sriwijaya Air provides four additional flights every day from June 1 to June 30 with a total of 120 flights.

Next, Citilink provides one additional flight per day from June 8 to June 24 with a total of 17 flights.

Furthermore Garuda Indonesia provides one flight per day on June 11 to June 14, three flights on June 21 and one flight on June 22 to June 24, 2018 for a total of 10 flights.

Fendrick noted the total number of additional flights are 357 flights. (cha)