Provisions on Flight Routes Redefined

The Ministry of Transportation (“Ministry”) has issued Regulation No. PM 45 of 2017 (“Tenth Amendment”), which amends Ministry Regulation No. KM 25 of 2008 on the Organization of Air Transportation (“Regulation 25/2008”). [1] The Tenth Amendment aims to improve the investment climate within Indonesia's air-transportation sector by simplifying the mechanism for the issuance of new flight-route permits to scheduled commercial airline companies.Flight-Route PermitsPursuant to Article 8 of Regulation 25/2008, an airline company may render service along routes which are listed under the appendix to its business license. In the event of any changes being made to the service, then the airlines companies are allowed to request the addition of new flight routes which are not listed under their business licenses.The Tenth Amendment adds new procedures for the securing of flight-route permits for routes which are not currently listed under a given business license (“New Route Permit”), both for domestic and international flights.In order to secure a New Route Permit, an airline company must first submit both an application and a business plan which address the new routes to the Director General of Air Transportation (“Director General”), along with documents which state information on: 1) Flight schedules (based on slot-time recommendations from the relevant slot-time organizer); 2) Type of aircraft used; 3) Aircraft handling readiness planning; 4) Technical capacity of the relevant airport; and 5) Business plan. [2] Note that the business plan described in number (5) above must be submitted within a month of the issuance date of any New Route Permit at the latest. [3] Failure to submit a business plan within this timeframe will result in the suspension of the relevant New Route Permit. Moreover, if approval for a business plan is not secured within six months of the issuance date, then the New Route Permit will be revoked. [4] New Route Permits which have been revoked can be reapplied for from one year after the date of revocation. [5] Flight Routes for Scheduled Commercial Airline CompaniesIn addition to being allowed to change their flight routes, scheduled commercial airline companies are also allowed to add new flight routes involving both domestic and international flights, as listed on their business licenses. The Tenth Amendment sets out a number of new requirements for flight-route additions and changes, as elaborated upon in the table below: [6]