Indonesian airlines reprimanded for price hikes

Indonesia’s antitrust regulator has found seven airlines guilty of anti-competitive practises but stopped short of fining them.

Last year all the airlines raised prices in quick succession causing a negative impact on domestic tourism for several months.

The airlines were Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, Lion Air, Wings Air and Batik Air, Sriwijaya Air, and NAM Air.

All the airlines were controlled by just two airline groups at the time.

Together, the airlines controlled more than 90% of the market.

They were found guilty of ‘concerted action or parallelism’ but here was no price-fixing collusion, the KPPU agency said.

The airlines must now inform the KPPU when they want to raise fares.

Although they were found to be violating anti-competitive rules, they were not fined due to the current tough business conditions.

The agency took into account the airlines’ struggles due to the downturn in travel caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.