We predict that the Eid al-Fitr exodus return will peak on May 7, 8, and 9Jakarta (ANTARA) - Some 140-150 thousand travelers are expected at the Soekarno-Hatta (Soeta) International Airport, Tangerang, Banten, during the Eid al-Fitr exodus return period forecast to peak on May 7-9, an official stated.
"We predict that the Eid al-Fitr exodus return will peak on May 7, 8, and 9," Soekarno-Hatta International Airport's senior manager branch of communication and legal, M. Holik Muardi, noted in Tangerang, Banten, on Friday.
Muardi remarked that several factors, including the end of the Eid holiday period and workers returning to their office on Monday (May 9), were factors taken into account to predict the passenger numbers during the return peak.
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"Most workers will return to their office on Monday, and school pupils have also started their school at the same time," the senior manager noted.
The airport official expected travelers to not travel during the peak period but instead strategize to avoid travelling during the period to prevent congestion at the arrival and departure terminals.
"(We hope) passengers would travel (on various travel dates spread out) to prevent congestion at terminals," he stated.
He noted that the peak of the passenger movement during the Eid al-Fitr exodus period at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was recorded at 141 thousand three days before Eid al-Fitr.
Muardi also affirmed that the airport operator is ready to mitigate surge in passenger numbers at the airport during the exodus return peak.
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Earlier, state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) had made preparations to operate Terminal 1B of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in case of a hike in the Eid return flow forecast for May 7–9.
"The only operational (part of) Terminal 1 is 1A, but anticipating the increase in the return flow, we have prepared Terminal 1B," Terminal 1 Eid post coordinator at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Miftahul Ulum, noted on Wednesday (May 4).
According to Ulum, currently, Terminal 1A is crowded with passengers travelling on various airlines.
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Translator: Martha HS, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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