REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The number of homebound travelers leaving Jakarta from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport five days before Eid al-Fitr has risen significantly as compared to that on normal days, according to an airport manager.

"There is a significant increase in the number of passengers. Besides the additional number of airlines operating, there are as many as six extra flights," the general manager of PT Angkasa Pura II, the airport authority of Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Iwan Krishadianto, said here on Monday.

The travelers are leaving the capital city to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr Islamic festival, locally known as Idul Fitri, with relatives in their hometowns.

According to data from airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II, as many as 5,660 homebound travelers left from the airport on Sunday (July 12) using through 35 flights. On usual days, the figure reaches 3,000 passengers a day.

In addition, he stated that the number of homebound travelers who left from the airport on Saturday (July 11) reached 3,168.

So far, all flights from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport have been on schedule with no reported delays, Krishadianto affirmed.

The Jakarta authorities had predicted a 3 percent increase in the number of travelers leaving the capital city to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr Islamic festival, locally called Idul Fitri, with relatives in their hometowns.

"During this year's Idul Fitri, the flow of homebound travelers is expected to increase by 3 percent from that recorded the previous year," Edison Sianturi of Jakarta's Population and Civil Registration Office remarked here recently.

While the figure was 3,616,744 in 2014, it is expected to surge to 3,763,392 this year.

"However, the number does not include those heading home by motorcycles, three-wheelers, and private cars via toll roads. This is because it is difficult to keep count of them," he explained.

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