Tony Tyler, Director General & CEO of IATA, has called on Indonesia’s stakeholders to develop an aviation master plan based on global standards to ensure that the industry is performing at its best. IATA identified three potential elements to be addressed in the master plan: improved safety, ensuring capacity, and a smart regulation framework. Tayler said: “Indonesia’s aviation potential is huge. By 2034, it is expected to be the sixth largest market for air travel. By then, some 270 million passengers are expected to fly to, from and within the country. That’s three times the size of today’s market. There is a big role for collective leadership among industry partners – including the government – to make the aviation sector flourish.
The safety standards of Indonesian aerospace are a primary concern for IATA given that only one airline, Garuda Indonesia, is registered as part of its IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Also, Indonesia has had at least one hull loss every year since 2010. Since 2009, IOSA-registered carriers recorded a better safety performance than those airlines not on the registry. In 2014, IOSA-registered airlines had one accident for every 900,000 flights, compared to one accident for every 300,000 flights for those not on the registry.
IATA is investing resources to improve safety in Indonesia. The most recent being a partnership for quality workshop that was held in Jakarta with the support of Garuda. “Indonesia is not, however, taking full advantage of IATA’s resources. The IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) is a global standard and is at the core of our efforts to improve safety. But of the 62 Indonesian airlines operating scheduled or chartered flights, only Garuda is in the IOSA registry. Making IOSA compulsory for an Indonesian AOC will send a very strong signal of commitment to improve safety. And experience shows us that it will make a difference in safety performance,” said Tyler. “Turning around a safety record is not easy. The best laid ‘plans’ need to be followed-up with concrete actions. Where this has been done - in Latin America, China, and Nigeria for example - we have seen significant and sustainable improvements. Setting IOSA as one of the standards required for an Indonesian AOC is but one of many needed actions,” said Tyler.
Regarding capacity, Tyler says that Indonesia’s traffic growth needs to be supported by the aviation infrastructure, both on the ground and in the air. For Indonesia this means building a world-class hub, managing scarce capacity to global standards and modernizing air traffic management. IATA praised the Indonesian Government’s plans to construct another 62 airports over the next five years, and also its plans to expand the terminals at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. However, Tyler believes that the increase in passenger numbers would require Soekarno-Hatta to be developed even further. “Indonesia needs a hub. The most efficient solution is to maximize the potential of one airport - Soekarno-Hatta - where significant investment has already been made. The vision would be something like the super terminals that we see in Beijing, Hong Kong, or Incheon airports. By starting from scratch and working in close consultation with the airlines, I am confident that we would achieve a world-class facility designed around key new technological innovations such as those in the IATA Fast Travel programme or the new risk-based process innovations that Smart Security is developing.”
“Soekarno-Hatta has the possibility to grow as there is plenty of land and the basic runway structure is relatively efficient. The terminal areas will, however, need a major re-development. “Soekarno-Hatta cannot be re-developed over-night. So the airport’s scarce existing capacity must be allocated based on the IATA Worldwide Slot Guidelines. The network nature of the airline business means that global standards are critical. Unfortunately there are a large number of instances where Indonesia is not playing by established international rules,” said Tyler. There are two slot management processes at Indonesian airports – one for domestic flights and another for international flights, even though both are managing the same runway capacity. There is also no independent slot co-ordinator at the airports. “The IATA team is ready to assist with the introduction of professional and independent slot co-ordination, who could bring the working procedures in line with global standards,” Tyler added. #998.17
