Ada Pertanyaan? Hubungi Kami 
2026 Hak Cipta Milik Hukumonline.com
Produk Pilihan
Ada Pertanyaan? Hubungi Kami Christina Desy, Fitria Novia Heriani
Long before the AirAsia QZ8501 accident, the Minister of Transport issued Regulation No. PM 51 of 2014 on Formulation for Calculating and Determining Upper Fare Thresholds for Economy Class Passengers on Scheduled Domestic Flights. In less than three months, this regulation has been amended twice by Regulation No. PM 59 of 2014 and Regulation No. PM 91 of 2014.
Initially, the Regulation aimed to protect airlines and their consumers from unhealthy business competition by setting the lowest airfare price that could be offered by airline. However, the AirAsia incident changed perceptions with safety concerns coming to the forefront with the thresholds now perceived as a government’s tool for managing airline safety.
According to J.A. Barata, Head of the Public Communication Center at the Ministry of Transport, the airfare price floor is important to prevent low cost carriers selling excessively cheap tickets which is thought can lead to reduced expenditure on flight safety. As an example, Mr. Barata pointed to the intention of certain airlines to reduce pilot training to keep down their operational costs.
“That is why the Ministry increased the threshold from 30 percent to 40 percent of the highest airfare price,” said Mr. Barata, last Friday.
Despite these noble objectives, the airfare price floor policy has been strongly criticized by the Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (Komisi Pemberantasan Persaingan Usaha - KPPU). Nawir Messi, KPPU’s Chairman, believes airfares should be calculated based on the total number of passengers which can be used as a basis to calculate an average price for each ticket.
Based on the average price, airlines can determine a reasonable price which still provides profit and at the same time covers operational costs, including expenditure related to the maintenance of proper safety standards. Based on this approach, Mr. Messi thinks that the airfare threshold becomes irrelevant to issues of flight safety. In addition, it is further argued that setting price increments does not necessarily guaranty that there will be no more plane crashes in the future.
Mr. Messi also believes the regulation is disadvantageous to citizens in the middle class and below. As airfares increase, the less well off are unfairly disadvantaged and excluded from using convenient air transport as they can no longer afford to buy tickets.
“This policy not only harms the industry, but also consumers,” asserts Mr. Messi.
Considering approaches to reviewing the regulation, Mr. Messi referred to Law No. 5 of 1999 on the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition which states that one of the KPPU’s authorities is to boost economic efficiency.
On the basis that the minimum ticket price policy is inefficient for national economic growth, Mr. Messi plans to discuss the regulation with the Ministry of Transport and hopes to be able to find better solutions rather than the stipulation of lowest airfare prices.
(hot/kc)
Christina Desy, Fitria Novia Heriani
Long before the AirAsia QZ8501 accident, the Minister of Transport issued Regulation No. PM 51 of 2014 on Formulation for Calculating and Determining Upper Fare Thresholds for Economy Class Passengers on Scheduled Domestic Flights. In less than three months, this regulation has been amended twice by Regulation No. PM 59 of 2014 and Regulation No. PM 91 of 2014.
Initially, the Regulation aimed to protect airlines and their consumers from unhealthy business competition by setting the lowest airfare price that could be offered by airline. However, the AirAsia incident changed perceptions with safety concerns coming to the forefront with the thresholds now perceived as a government’s tool for managing airline safety.
According to J.A. Barata, Head of the Public Communication Center at the Ministry of Transport, the airfare price floor is important to prevent low cost carriers selling excessively cheap tickets which is thought can lead to reduced expenditure on flight safety. As an example, Mr. Barata pointed to the intention of certain airlines to reduce pilot training to keep down their operational costs.
“That is why the Ministry increased the threshold from 30 percent to 40 percent of the highest airfare price,” said Mr. Barata, last Friday.
Despite these noble objectives, the airfare price floor policy has been strongly criticized by the Commission for the Supervision of Business Competition (Komisi Pemberantasan Persaingan Usaha - KPPU). Nawir Messi, KPPU’s Chairman, believes airfares should be calculated based on the total number of passengers which can be used as a basis to calculate an average price for each ticket.
Based on the average price, airlines can determine a reasonable price which still provides profit and at the same time covers operational costs, including expenditure related to the maintenance of proper safety standards. Based on this approach, Mr. Messi thinks that the airfare threshold becomes irrelevant to issues of flight safety. In addition, it is further argued that setting price increments does not necessarily guaranty that there will be no more plane crashes in the future.
Mr. Messi also believes the regulation is disadvantageous to citizens in the middle class and below. As airfares increase, the less well off are unfairly disadvantaged and excluded from using convenient air transport as they can no longer afford to buy tickets.
“This policy not only harms the industry, but also consumers,” asserts Mr. Messi.
Considering approaches to reviewing the regulation, Mr. Messi referred to Law No. 5 of 1999 on the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition which states that one of the KPPU’s authorities is to boost economic efficiency.
On the basis that the minimum ticket price policy is inefficient for national economic growth, Mr. Messi plans to discuss the regulation with the Ministry of Transport and hopes to be able to find better solutions rather than the stipulation of lowest airfare prices.
(hot/kc)