Angkasa Pura

Nine Month Journey to COVID-19, This is the Strategy Selected by PT Angkasa Pura II

Jakarta - Throughout the nine months or in January - September 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has put intense pressure on the tourism and support sectors, including airlines.

At the beginning of this year, to be precise from January to February, international routes began to weaken. Then in March, domestic routes were also affected.

PT Angkasa Pura II (Persero) as the manager of 19 airports has made a number of adjustments to maintain air connectivity in the country.

"It has been about 9 months that we have been facing COVID-19 and during this pandemic PT Angkasa Pura II has moved dynamically by establishing strategies to adapt to the situation," explained PT Angkasa Pura II President Director Muhammad Awaluddin.

Muhammad Awaluddin said adaptation focuses on 3 areas: operations, services and business.

Operational
The impact of the pandemic has been felt since Q1 / 2020. At that time the number of aircraft passengers at AP II airport fell 4% compared to the same period in 2019.

The decline signals that COVID-19 will impact flights throughout 2020.

As an anticipatory measure for the airport to continue operating optimally, AP II responded by establishing 4 operational patterns: Normal Operation, Slow Down Operation, Minimum Operation I, and Minimum Operation II.

"The facilities used at the airport are adjusted to the movement of passengers so that the establishment of this operational pattern allows the airport to be efficient. Over the past 9 months, AP II has saved Rp1.8 trillion, ”explained Muhammad Awaluddin.

Service
Entering the second quarter of 2020, AP II has implemented facilities and services in accordance with the conditions of COVID-19, focusing on physical distancing, health screening, touchless processing, people protection, and cleanliness and sanitizing facilities.

AP II together with stakeholders also established SOPs in handling COVID-19. The health protocol from the Ministry of Health and the Task Force for the Acceleration of Handling COVID-19 was also implemented.

"COVID-19 was declared to have entered Indonesia in March. AP II and stakeholders directly coordinate and establish protocols and SOPs in accordance with pandemic conditions. We strive to create a safe, comfortable and healthy airport so that people do not hesitate to use air transportation to support activities, ”explained Muhammad Awaluddin.

The collaboration between AP II and stakeholders was strengthened by echoing the Safe Travel Campaign.

As a result, Soekarno-Hatta Airport was recognized as one of the safest airports from COVID-19. The Safe Travel Barometer provides the highest score (Safe Trave Score) of up to 4.09 from the highest of 5 against Soekarno-Hatta Airport in line with the strict implementation of the COVID-19 health protocol.

"The combination of health protocols, SOP for facilities and services, as well as collaboration, has increased public trust, marked by the skyrocketing number of aircraft passengers at 19 airports. In the second quarter, the number of aircraft passengers was 1.56 million people, then skyrocketed 247% to 5.42 million people in the third quarter of 2020, "said Muhammad Awaluddin.

Business
From the business side, AP II carries out the Business Survival Initiatives strategy which consists of three programs, namely cost leadership, capex disbursement and cash flow management. The program is applied in aeronautics and non-aeronautics business.

The focus of the aeronautics business in the midst of a pandemic is the optimization of flight time slots at airports, reactivation of routes and increasing flight frequencies. Through this focus, now the flight capacity utilization at AP II airport can reach around 45%.

Meanwhile in the non-aeronautical business the main focus is to keep commercial tenants able to continue to open services at the passenger terminal through various customer retention programs, as well as various businesses run by subsidiaries.

"Nonaeronautika business contributions mostly come from subsidiaries, namely PT Angkasa Pura Solusi, PT Angkasa Pura Kargo, PT Angkasa Pura Propertindo, PT Angkasa Pura Aviasi and PT Gapura Angkasa," explained Muhammad Awaluddin.

AP II this year also seeks to optimize assets, one of the realization is the official opening of a helicopter base (Heliport) at Soekarno-Hatta Airport which is managed by Whitesky. The heliport is used for transportation and medical purposes.

Through various business innovations, AP II can maintain performance while maintaining EBITDA in a positive area this year.

"During the pandemic, the government through the Ministry of Transportation has also never stopped supporting the activities of airport operators. Currently, regulations have also been issued for providing incentives and stimuli for the community so that flights will be more excited."

AP II believes that aviation traffic and air transport movements will improve in the fourth quarter of 2020.