An enormous amount of people will be traveling in and out of Bali for the upcoming Lebaran holiday and Bali Airport is getting ready.
“For the preparation of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, communication is still going on with other partners. Like the police, the military, and other agencies,” said Bali Airport spokesman Arie Ahsanurrohim.
Every year, tons of flights get added to the regular flight schedule in and out of Bali to accommodate all the people set to travel the holiday.
“From the data we collected, as of June 6, flights have been increased by 97 percent, so that’s about 317 extra flights,” Ahsanurrohim said, as quoted by Tribun Bali.
In addition to adding extra flights, Bali will also be amongst a number of airports having their operating hours extended for the approaching holiday.
“First we added extra slots for flights and secondly, we are lengthening operational hours for several airports, especially in Java, namely for Yogyakarta, Solo, Semarang, Surabaya, and Bali, which will operate for 24 hours,” Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi announced in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Marking the end of fasting month Ramadan, Idul Fitri will officially kick off on the evening of June 24, but peak traffic will probably be on the night before, June 23. Millions of Muslims across the country will be heading to their hometowns for the holiday, which allows for a week off on the office calendar.
The transport minister advises people making the journey to go home as early as possible to avoid adding to what will surely be an overwhelming amount of people traveling on the weekend of June 24 and 25.
Bali’s Port of Gilimanuk, the main crossing point between Java and Bali, has also been amping up security in the days leading up to the big holiday.