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Indonesia is one of the largest island nations which cater to the high number of tourist from all across the world. Like every country this island nation is also under the recovery process after the severe impact of the pandemic.Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World at the CASEA 2023 summit in Bangkok interacted with Mr. Denon Prawiraatmadja, Chairman, Indonesia National Air Carriers Association ( INACA) and Vice Chairman, Chamber of Commerce for Transportation in Indonesia. He discussed in detail about how Indonesia is enhancing its aviation sector economy, government’s ‘National Strategic Program’ ,SAF and holistic growth in the nation. Excerpts… Tell us about INACA and its vision? Also your views on the aviation sector in Indonesia? INACA is the only airlines association in Indonesia which consists of 11 commercial airlines and 21 air charters. My opinion about the aviation Industry in Indonesia as you perhaps knows that the Indonesia is a country that consists of 17000 islands. So airlines are a necessity for a country like Indonesia for the purpose of logistics, passengers. It is a necessity for Indonesia people to their economy.In this matter first thing is we as an association has to become a strategic partner to the governments of Indonesia. We have to collaborate with the governments of Indonesia in giving the opinion and advice on how Indonesia’s aviation futures. We have to make the aviation industry healthier . Well perhaps you understand if I may share little bit more without this cost structure 30 per cent of cost of operation are actually came from leasing which is that has the impact from Indonesia Rupiah against other foreign currency. This is beyond the Aviation industries pan of control. So the remaining 70 per cent has to be strategized for the future. We are not talking about the next few years ahead, we have to plan this precisely for the next few decades. Because if we are talking about transportation system my opinion we need to talk about the holistic concept, not only aircraft in particular, we need to plan how we manage our sustainable aviation fuel in the future. We have to strategies how we make concept of hub and spoke for domestic airlines for international airline getting into the Indonesia to support the domestic airline and to support the local economy. That’s what I am going to emphasize, what should be improved is to make Aviation Industry and all the families of Aviation, for a country like Indonesia that as archipelago country that we need to make this industry healthier. Otherwise, the impact of healthy industry of transportation is also impacted to other sector of business. By making an aviation industry In Indonesia strategically become healthier, this will become the role of the association as a strategic partner to the governments. How do you see the transformation in Air Traffic in your country which is primarily dependent on tourism? I think not only in Indonesia but so far other countries during the Covid time, we all faced challenges. Because, yes it’s true that post Covid not only airlines but airport also tried to recover their activity by stages. But what we think we need to resolve this. In that period of time the members of the association has to negotiate with the lesser and I think this is part of the challenge that member of the association is facing today. Since Indonesia become a country that is known also as tourism destination I think this will speed up the recovery process and as easy as the governments of Indonesia , the authorities has more flexibility on post Covid regulations . So I am confident , based on the White paper that is released by INACA , by the association, by 2025 all the activities are going to back with what we have before Covid time. As you mentioned, now the focus is shifting to promote other destinations apart from Bali? What are the steps being planned and which are those cities? I agree that airlines business and tourism business is like siblings. Other than Bali the governments of Indonesia plan to ‘National Strategic Program ‘to have the tourism industry grow like Labuan Bajo. Perhaps the next other tourism destinations like West Sumatra, which is known as province that had tradition of good culinary. So these support from government as NSP for next tourism destination in Indonesia will directly increase numbers of passengers from other countries to Indonesia.I think the NSP in enhancing the tourism business will become the strengthening the economy of Indonesia despite Indonesia also known as downstream export product like nickel mining but for accelerating the air transportation I think tourism business there has been a program from the government and will become the most impactful policy to the airlines industry. What are the key steps that according you still need to be addressed by Indonesian government to make Civil Aviation sector more viable? When I mention about the holistic concept about the Aviation Industry, it’s not basically addressed to ministry of transportation. When we are talking about the level of safety standards, Indonesia is not quite bad now. We are number 53 in safety standards if I am not mistaken. But when we are talking about the holistic concept of making the aviation industry healthier,it is inbox the ministry of tax to give an incentive, ministry of state owned enterprise, ministry of trade. So the government should involve to support how the airlines business that connect people among all these islands can be supportive. Our DGCA is quite communicative with us in terms of regulations, providing Upset Prevention and Recovery Training (UPRT) is not that mandatory in Indonesia but DGCA accept that as a additional problem for a pilot to do a UPRT training . So we as an association provide these training for airlines to do the UPRT. One of those things that I address a concern is the fuel . We just had the presentation about SAF. We recommend to

India is a big Aviation market for the United States and one airport that is really booming with 186% growth in passenger numbers within the first two quarters of 2023 is San Francisco International Airport (SFO). To share more insight Kevin Bumen, CFO and Chief Commercial Officer, San Francisco International Airport in an Interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World discuss at length about the growth, future plans, association with Air India and may more interesting points. Excerpts… There is always a great interest for Indian Carrier to operate to SFO. How do you see the relevance of existing route and addition of more flights in near future? Air India has been a huge success story as far as SFO is concerned. During the pandemic there were few airlines that grew in our market which is quite remarkable for many reasons. When we look back over the last 4 years, the target to 2019 was just one destination initially with Delhi and of course they have grown now to three in a very short time. They have essentially double the operation from 9 flights a week to 17 a week and which breaks down with majority to Delhi of course but having seen the other market in India with structure established, really chose the strength of the market across the entire country. Seat capacity has gone up from 2042 seats per week back in August 2019 and this August we are 4397 seats per week. It’s a huge increase. We look forward obviously potential for Mumbai, Bengaluru to get a daily service and then we also see future markets as Hyderabad and Chennai which can likely support flights as well. What’s the exact number of traffic of San Francisco International Airport from India both in terms of connectivity and pax? When we look at the overall area or market and its measured on the basis of frequency of daily passengers today. The market has a lot of potential and knows those passengers could be flowing in number of ways to and from but having that kind of strength in the region the opportunity for non-stop services is very strong. It’s also been seen that India is primed for significant growth, especially in the luxury travel market. What’s your take on this transition? Significant growth is happening and we have got 186 % increase just in the first half of this year. It’s extremely exciting and it speaks to the fact that SFO is ready. Our premium airport recently named by Wall Street Journal as number one airports in the United States. We have got so many memorable experiences that enhance the travel experience including the Grand Hyatt Hotel, a 4 star hotel connected to the transit system in the terminal. We have butler concierge services, we have an SFO museum, we have got duty free shopping, major luxury retails, etc. These are all source of wonderful amenities. We have amazing airline lounges and we are working with Air India for potential airport lounge at SFO, so that’s in the similar stages of planning. I really feel the market is ready and we demonstrated that with the rapid growth we had certainly challenging time for the industry. How SFO Int. Airport would like to explore newer opportunities from India? We certainly like to see more non-stop services to new destinations like Hyderabad and Chennai that I earlier mentioned and additional frequencies in existing Delhi market that we have today The growth across India is a very exciting prospect to us. India is certainly a large country and any part of the world you can fly non-stop and that is always a great convenience to the passengers. I think those would be two very important goals for us. We also look it at airports like Mumbai and Delhi that’s one of the best airports in the world as we look at the customer experience and certainly having SFO connected to two very high quality markets is of great importance to us and we look into our airport SQ ranking , SFO, Delhi and Mumbai are all top 10 in the world for customer experience. So those who fly in these routes have an incredible airport experience that just adds to the strength of the market. It’s really nice when you see that balance in the market. We also as an airport strive for carrier diversity in the market. We are number three in the US in the carrier diversity and we serve around 50 airlines and we feel that it brings value to the passengers both in terms of choice of carrier and adding in destination but certainly it also keeps pricing competitive. We look forward to United returning to the market. They have obviously struggle in India due to the aerospace access to the Russia so if that issue evolves, United going to this market will be an important factor as well. As part of the upcoming sales mission to India what are your primary objectives? We get out to visit airlines from time to time and we really look forward to celebrate our strong relationship with Air India. But with focus on the future growth plans and as a carrier that’s is growing rapidly, time spent at HQs with the team really helps us to strengthen the relationship and clarify the planning on both sides so we work on closely together. Certainly we will be talking about many achievements of SFO and how we see our placement as a gateway to the North American market for Indian travelers and certainly our desire to assist in and support in Air India growth in the market. And then we will be spending time with the travel community and helping them learn more about SFO and some of the unique aspects of the airport and what sets us apart both as a west coast gateway in the US but just a getaway in the North America. So I want to sharing

Indian Aviation sector is growing with leaps and bounds and globally the growth pattern has been highly admired by the various stakeholders. Stephen Young, Regional VP-Sales, APAC,Air support in an exclusive interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World, explains how Indian aviation sector is important for the world and how it has manifested the significant amount of investment to improve its airlines, airports, training and development and overall generating employment for the next gen of the nation. Excerpts… How you look forward to Aviation growth in Asia especially India and on larger scale in South East Asia? Initially looking at the wider Asia Pacific region there is significant growth being driven by much larger middle class in many of the economies. There is very rapid increase in GDP usually 5 per cent or beyond in most countries and a new category of passengers is entering the aviation market typically taking the first flight with the low cost or ultra low cost carrier and this is being seen some sort of growth among the carriers throughout the region. Most specifically for India, I think we are seeing a period of consolidation, regulation and also period of dramatic increases in terms of airlines scale, airlines complexity but also efficiencies of scale. One of the most interesting area of the Indian market has been significant emergence of IndiGo as the largest carrier within the Indian market. They have shown immense synergies and efficiencies of scale in terms of the type of fleet, I think they have become benchmark for many of the Indian carriers to look towards. But also over a period of consolidation in terms of the TATA acquisition of air India , Vistara, Air Asia India and we are seeing really redistribution of airlines throughout India. There are few airlines ofcousre which are not operating as of now but obviously we see the new startups and new entrants to the market . Recently, we have seen Fly Big , also seen the growth of Star Air and I think the regional connectivity is key to the future progression of India aviation. As were going to see greater connectivity between the outline stations and the central hubs which will connect greater number of people through India to the wider aviation market. I would also see greater level of international capability for the Indian passengers. The recent commercial agreements between IndiGo and Turkish have enabled a much greater ability for Indian passengers to move west and transit through Istanbul to greater number of destinations worldwide. I would also large number of routes opening from India going east to the rest of Asia pacific as well enhancing the connectivity. What’s your views on enhancing the bilateral between South East Asian countries looking into the increasing demand? I believe that there will be great level of bilateral cooperation between India and many of the states in Asia pacific and wider field. It will match the growth which is projected to coming from India certainly after the next decade . One of the key things that also need to be looked at is for foreigners entering the Indian market who is looking for transiting through India into another thord party country . The policy in place is regard o transit visa need to be reviewed againin order to actually make this particular typeof traffic much more viable for airlines in order tp pick up such traffic.The case for slot allocationand review of that in the wake of post Covid and bounce back would be highly advantageous in order to support the continuing growth of the Indian carriers. Hey are going to be the economic driver for many of the areas of the Asia pacific further increasing tourism, trade and utilisation of the air space because they are going to operate new routes . Indian government is increasing its airport numbers and its capacity with rising demands. How do you see such steps? In terms of the airport development it stay fundamental to growth for long terms for the Indian market. With the projections for the Indian market looking for India to be on eof the most important aviation markets globally this can be supported with significant investment in the infrastructure of just airports but also overall additional infrastructure in terms of air traffic control , all of the support systems to actually achieve the same. It is very pleasing to see such significant investment being made by the Indian government and various other stakeholders into the high quality infrastructure. We are seeing very-very good hubs and very good strategies for the space developed at Delhi and Mumbai and many of the other metropolises within India. One of the key things that we have noticed is all significant investment in the smaller towns and cities across India provided for the very first time in many cases. According to you what’s on the policy side that need to be improvised in his region? I think we have seen a significant level of policy improvement in enhancements and in India and within the wider Asia pacific region over the past 10 years. Within India there are highly skilled and capable personal to dive policy change and policy decision making. One of the areas where increasingly we are going to see policy change in regards to ANSP (Air Navigation Service Provision) and ATFM( Air Traffic Flow Management ). I think as we look at the hub cities in India, we are going to see increased level of congestion because new airports will bring more traffic and that need to managed in efficient way above the skies of India . I firmly believe that India is very well placed in order to enact the right policy decision moving forward. I also think that India with its bilateral decision making with its ability to liaise with its local partners will actually drive significant enhancement to the aviation industry.Aviation is all about partnerships, meeting between the lines of many different people