Number of Indonesian air passengers spike before Idul Fitri

Indonesian flyers embarking on the homeward-bound Idul Fitri exodus have surged in the six days before the holiday, Transportation Ministry data has shown.

“According to the data collected until June 20 at midnight, domestic flights have seen a 10 percent surge in passengers,” an official with the Transportation Ministry in charge of the Idul Fitri holiday daily integrated transportation post, Adi Karsyaf Rahayu, said in a statement.

On the accumulated data from 10 days before until six days before the festivity collected from 35 airports, the number of domestic flyers has surged to 1.3 million from 1.18 million passengers in the same period last year.

A higher jump was observed in international flights in seven airports in Indonesia six days  before Idul Fitri, with a 12.69 percent hike to 222,976 passengers from the 197,871 in the same period last year.

The Transportation Ministry, which spearheads the coordination for this year’s annual exodus, predicted that the country would see a 4.8 percent surge in the number of people traveling by public transportation to 19.04 million.