Indonesia's Central Statistics Agency (BPS) has reported that total air transport traffic increased 5.6% year-on-year to 72.6 million passengers for the full year to December 31, 2014. Domestic passenger figures increased by 5.8% to 59 million, while international growth was 5.4% to 13.7 million in the 12-month period.
Indonesia National Air Carriers Association (INACA) chairman for the scheduled airline division Bayu Sutanto has warned however that Indonesia’s airline industry is reaching its saturation point because an increase in seat capacity has not been supported by an increase in airport capacity and improvements in infrastructure. He said that a lack of infrastructural development, particularly for airports, has prevented airlines from increasing the number of passengers on their flights.
“The data from the BPS showed that the airline industry has reached saturation, because the increase in seat capacity was not supported by an increase in airport capacity and an improvement in infrastructure,” Bayu told The Jakarta Post. “The lack of infrastructural development did not only affect Soekarno-Hatta, but there are other airports across the archipelago similarly affected. The fact that not all airports are operating 24 hours a day also contributed to the slowed growth in the number of passengers,” he continued.