Aviation in Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air airplanes at Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali in August 2014

Aviation in Indonesia serves as a critical means of connecting the thousands of islands throughout the archipelago. Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, extending 5,120 kilometres (3,181 mi) from east to west and 1,760 kilometres (1,094 mi) from north to south,[1] comprising 13,466 islands,[2] with 922 of those permanently inhabited.[a] With an estimated population of over 255 million people — making it the world's fourth-most-populous country — and also due to the growth of the middle-class, the boom of low-cost carriers in the recent decade, and overall economic growth, many domestic travellers shifted from land and sea transport to faster and more comfortable air travel.[3] Indonesia is widely regarded as an emerging market for air travel in the region. Between 2009 and 2014, the number of Indonesian air passengers increased from 27,421,235[4] to 94,504,086,[5] an increase of over threefold.[5]

However, safety issues continue to be a persistent problem in Indonesian aviation.[3] Several accidents have given Indonesia's air transport system the reputation of the least safe in the world.[6] Indonesian aviation faces numerous challenges, including poorly maintained, outdated, and often overwhelmed infrastructure, the factor of human error, bad weather, haze problems caused by plantation fires, and volcanic ash spewed by numerous area volcanoes that disrupts air transportation.[7][8][9]

As of 2017, Indonesia has 61 scheduled and unscheduled commercial airlines. The country is ranked as having the second-fastest growing aviation industry in the world after China in terms of aircraft order and business value. Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier of Indonesia.[10]

In addition to the airline, Indonesia has Aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) facilities. GMF AeroAsia has largest aircraft maintenance facility in the world for narrow bodied aircraft.[11] The Indonesian Air Force has 34,930 personnel equipped with 224 aircraft, among them 110 combat aircraft. The Indonesian Air Force possesses and operates numerous military air bases and military airstrips across the archipelago.[12]

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has predicted that Indonesia will become the world's fourth largest air travel market by 2036. Around 355 million passengers are predicted to fly from and within Indonesia by 2034.[13]

  1. ^ Kuoni - Far East, A world of difference. Page 88. Published 1999 by Kuoni Travel & JPM Publications
  2. ^ "Hanya ada 13.466 Pulau di Indonesia". National Geographic Indonesia (in Indonesian). 8 February 2012. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Can Indonesia and air safety become synonymous by 2019?". aerotime.aero. Archived from the original on 2021-09-23. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  4. ^ "Air transport, passengers carried, Indonesia 2009". The World Bank.
  5. ^ a b "Data: Air transport, passengers carried". The World Bank.
  6. ^ "Safety woeful, admits air chief". Sydney Morning Herald online. 2 November 2007.
  7. ^ Maria Yuniar (18 September 2013). "Deregulasi Penerbangan Picu Kepadatan Bandara". Tempo (in Indonesian).
  8. ^ Vaswani, Karishma (12 October 2015). "Indonesia's costly haze problem". BBC News. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  9. ^ "Indonesia volcanic ash causes new Bali airport closure". BBC News. 12 July 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference List AOC 121 & 135 2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "Melihat 4 Hangar Milik GMF AeroAsia di Bandara Soetta".
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Flightglobal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ "Indonesia prepares for jump in number of airline passengers". The Jakarta Post. Retrieved 19 May 2018.


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