JAKARTA - Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air have been found guilty of scheduled commercial airfare price-fixing by the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU).
"All reported parties have been found, by law, guilty of violating Article 5 of Law No. 5/1999 on Domestic Economy Class Commercial Scheduled Air Services," Commission Panel Chairman Kurnia Toha said in the verdict trial on Tuesday (23/6) as quoted from Tempo.co.
The airlines found guilty in the trial are PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (GIAA), PT Citilink Indonesia, PT Sriwijaya Air, PT NAM Air, PT Batik Air, PT Lion Mentari Airlines, and PT Wings Abadi Airlines.
In the trial, the Commission Panel found that the airlines reached an unwritten agreement to eliminate discounts, create discount uniformity, and reduce affordable products by lowering the amount of subclasses. As a result, economy class airfares skyrocketed with limited supply.
Based on the verdict, the Commission Panel will impose sanctions in accordance with the law. In addition, KPPU has also asked the Ministry of Transportation to evaluate the upper and lower tariff limits to protect consumers and business actors. (MS)