In Indonesia, authorities temporarily closed down operations at five airports, including international airport Ngurah Rai in Denpasar on Indonesia’s tourist hotspot Bali. This decision was made due to the eruption of Mount Raung (located in East Java). The volcano’s level of activity has increased over the past seven days and is now spewing ash and debris high into the air, jeopardizing the safety of air passengers. Due to the shutdown of the five airports, it is estimated that thousands of travelers have been affected.

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Although Indonesian rescuers are still searching for the black boxes, casualties and other remains of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that crashed tragically in the Java Sea on 28 December 2014 en route from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore, some preliminary findings have already been presented to the media. These findings do not involve the accident itself but rather involve massive violations that were exposed as a consequence of the AirAsia tragedy. Apparently, 61 flights (involving five Indonesian airlines) lack the necessary permits.

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Ahead of implementation of the ASEAN Single Aviation Market (ASAM) in 2015, it is important for Indonesia to improve infrastructure at (and around) airports, particularly the nation’s smaller airports, in order to be able to compete with other airports in the ASEAN region. ASAM will turn ASEAN into a unified and single aviation market by 2015, meaning that air travel between ASEAN member states is fully liberalized. As such, ASAM will supersede existing unilateral, bilateral and multilateral air services agreements between ASEAN members.

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The government of Indonesia announced on Tuesday (24/12) that increased levels of foreign direct investments will be allowed in the country’s airports, pharmaceutical industries, power plants, and toll roads. The revision of Indonesia's Negative Investment List (Daftar Negatif Investasi), the list which stipulates which sectors are closed (or partly closed) to foreign investment, is conducted in order to attract more foreign investments from abroad as a means to combat slowing economic growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

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Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation expects the number of air passengers in Indonesia to exceed 100 million in 2014, a 15 percent growth from this year's estimated 90 million air passengers. Air traffic in Southeast Asia's largest economy is growing rapidly. From 2012 to 2013, passenger numbers grew at least 19 percent (from 60 to 90 million), while the total number of flights increased from 566,000 in 2011 to 684,000 in 2012. This robust growth necessitates investments to safeguard comfort and safety in Indonesia's aviation sector.

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The aviation industry in the Asia-Pacific region has shown robust growth in recent years. This region is one of the world's fastest growing regions in terms of air travel. In the next 20 years, an average annual seven percent growth of air traffic is expected. Indonesia, the current engine of economic growth in Southeast Asia and one of the largest economies in the Asia-Pacific, contains a burgeoning middle class that is increasingly using airplanes for domestic as well as international transport.

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Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation has issued a temporary moratorium on the issuance of permits for the establishment of new airlines in Indonesia. A spokesman of the Ministry said that airports will become too crowded if more applications are approved. Overcrowded airports will result in more flight delays and entails risks for safety. An increase in flight frequency of already established airlines is still permitted. The Ministry is also concerned that if more permits are issued, current rife competition between airlines will intensify.

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Indonesia's Ngurah Rai Airport on the idyllic island of Bali is now the country's largest airport in terms of passenger capacity. Being newly renovated, it can handle 25 million passengers per year. As such, it has surpassed Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, located just outside Jakarta (Java), and the new Kuala Namu airport in Medan (Sumatra), which have passenger capacities of 22 million and 8.1 million respectively. However, after renovation of terminal three at Soekarno-Hatta will be finished, Ngurah Rai is to lose its top spot again.

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Garuda Indonesia is the most renowned airline of Indonesia. The company, which received four stars from Skytrax, provides both domestic and international flights (passengers and cargo). In recent years, Garuda has experienced a remarkable transition from being banned to fly to the Eurozone towards becoming a world-class airline that is acknowledged by international critical acclaim. Although Garuda is Indonesia's top class airline, it taps the low-cost aviation sector through its subsidiary Citilink Indonesia.

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According to data from Airport Council International, Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was the world's tenth most visited airport in 2012. It is the first time for an Indonesian airport to reach the top ten of most visited airports. However, robust growth in passengers in recent years resulted in overcapacity as the airport was originally built to handle an annual 22 million passengers, but had to cope with 57.7 million passengers in 2012.

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On 28 August 2020 Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially opened Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA), a brand new airport that is located in Kulon Progo in the Special Region of Yogyakarta; a region known as one of Indonesia’s main tourism centers. Many in fact call Yogyakarta the ‘heart and soul of Indonesia’.

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The tourism industry of Indonesia is one of the most important industries in terms of the nation's foreign exchange earnings. However, compared to its neighboring countries - specifically Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - Indonesia lags behind in terms of foreign visitor arrivals. This "failure" is partly attributed to the weak state of Indonesia's infrastructure. This includes the lack of enough airports or the lack of enough aircraft and passenger handling capacity at existing airports.

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In 2017 Indonesia's Transportation Ministry allowed the opening of 83 new flight routes (commercial civil flights), consisting of 58 domestic routes and 25 international routes. There are two reasons why the government encourages the opening of new routes: (1) to make the remote areas of Indonesia less isolated, and (2) to strengthen inter & intra regional transportation.

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Angkasa Pura I, the state-owned firm that provides airport management services in the central and eastern region of Indonesia, offers foreign and domestic private investors the opportunity to operate and develop several airports (in cooperation with Angkasa Pura I) across Indonesia: the Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport in Sepinggan (Balikpapan, Kalimantan), Lombok Praya Airport on Lombok, and - in the pipeline - Kulon Progo Airport in Yogyakarta (Java).

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The controversial Batang power plant in Central Java is expected to be completed in 2020 now all land acquisition disputes have been resolved. This USD $4.2 billion power plant experienced a long delay as about a dozen of local farmers were reluctant to sell their land to the developers of the project. In February 2016 Indonesia's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the project developers. Indonesian President Joko Widodo is a supporter of this project.

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The spotlights are again turned on low-cost carrier Lion Air, Indonesia's largest privately-held airline that controls about 40 percent of the air passenger market in Indonesia. The airline, owned by Rusdi Kirana (one of the richest Indonesians), has again disappointed thousands of passengers due to delayed flights. This time flight delays were caused by Lion Air pilots going on strike. It is worth to zoom in on this case and to take a look at which Indonesian airlines are most reliable in terms of departure punctuality.

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In line with the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of the year, the ASEAN Open Skies policy (also known as the ASEAN Single Aviation Market) should become fully effective later this year. The ASEAN Open Skies policy, a key component of the AEC, involves the multilateral agreement of all ten ASEAN countries to unite their skies into a single aviation market (hence liberalizing rules and regulations to a large degree) in a bid to boost the region’s economic growth.

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The prequalification tender for the construction of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Railway project has been postponed until late October 2014 (from August) as agreements with several stakeholders still need to be finalized. For example, the government is yet to underwrite part of the required investment. Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation proposes to underwrite IDR 13.5 trillion (USD $2.3 billion) - approximately 49 percent of total required investment for this railway project.

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The Indonesian Transportation Ministry will tender the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport train project in August 2014. The project, which will connect one of the world’s busiest airports to the capital city of Jakarta, is offered in the shape of a public-private partnership (PPP) with the Indonesian government. The total of investment required to develop the railway, which will be built partly underground, is estimated at IDR 26 trillion (USD $2.2 billion). The project aims to improve connectivity to the airport.

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Airport Council International (ACI), the only global trade representative of the world's airports, stated that Indonesia’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, located just outside the capital city of Jakarta, has climbed one spot and is now ranked the world’s 8th busiest airport in terms of passenger numbers (over the year 2013) and was the 4th busiest airport in the Asia Pacific after Beijing Capital International Airport, Haneda International Airport (Tokyo), and Dubai International Airport.

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