REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The haze emanating from the forest fires that have hit a number of regions in Indonesia has affected the financial performance of airways during the second and third quarters of this year.
Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda was forced to cancel some two thousand flights up to September due to haze, President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia M Arif Wibowo said here recently.
Citilink, a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia, cancelled 600 flights, affecting 120 thousand passengers.
The effect was significant because it caused revenue as well as opportunity losses, he said on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Indonesian National Air Carriers (Inaca).
Marketing Manager of PT Kalstar Aviation Mochammad Zainuddin said his company was also significantly affected by the haze disaster because 90 percent of the airlines' flight routes are in cities on the Kalimantan Island.
He said some one thousand flights were cancelled, impacting nearly 120 thousand passengers.
"The haze condition has been deteriorating with visibility dropping to 100 or 200 meters, forcing cancellation of flights," he remarked.
His company suffered losses worth billions of rupiahs because the flight frequency decreased from 70 flights a day to only 20 flights.
"Our flights have been affected up to 60-70 percent. Our target was to serve 1.5 million passengers until the end of this year, but has dropped to 1.3 million passengers," he noted.
Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika