The Indonesian transport ministry is preparing to start building new airports in 13 locations from 2017 to 2019 to meet the country's growing need for infrastructure and to increase the number of people using air transport for domestic and international travel.
The broader goal, it says, is to increase the country's air transport capacity by developing new airports, expanding existing ones and improving links to remote areas.
It also aims to increase the number of people flying domestically by 6.1% to 95.9 million, and those taking international flights by 4.8% to 19.9 million in 2017.
Given those figures, now seems to be a great time to be a pilot in Indonesia. But whether expanded air travel will provide more job opportunities to absorb flying school graduates remains to be seen. Indonesia has a surprising number of unemployed pilots. In some cases it's because the training they have received doesn't match what the market needs. In other cases, the vacancies are on remote or regional routes that don't appeal to pilots.
Currently, there are at least 900 local pilots who cannot find jobs with local airlines, Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said at the launch of a campaign to increase public awareness of air transport safety in Jakarta earlier this month.
Budi's statement was in contrast with previous statements by officials in recent years, that Indonesia was short of pilots as the growth of the aviation industry was outpacing that of pilot training.
The minister says he plans to put in place a number of programmes and introduce better training courses to improve local pilots' skills in a bid to solve the problem.
In its 2017 outlook, the ministry said it plans to produce 2,531 air transport academy graduates between 2017 and 2019, including 752 in the next year.
"We have to impose certain requirements for foreign pilots to work in Indonesia. I think we are quite open but it would irresponsible for us if our pilots have fewer opportunities," Sumadi said.
Ali Nahdi, the vice-president of the Indonesian Pilots Federation, said the actual number of jobless rookie pilots in Indonesia was higher than what the minister said.
"It's actually more than a thousand and the number is growing," Ali told Asia Focus. "The government and all stakeholders including airlines need to seriously work together to find a solution."
In terms of providing better training to improve pilots' capabilities, Ali expects the government will go ahead with new programmes despite the high cost of training to obtain ratings to fly certain types of aircraft.
"It would also be up to the airlines to recruit more local pilots in accordance with their needs and requirements," he said, adding that airlines and the pilots they hire could work out a scheme to anticipate the costs of obtaining pilot certification to fly specific airplanes.
"Otherwise the government and flying schools in the country should start thinking about reducing admissions of new students," he said. "We surely don't want them to graduate without job opportunities to fly."
Indonesia has 24 flying schools, including two that are owned by the government. According to the head of the human resource development centre at the ministry, Yuli Sudoso Hastono, they produce 65 new pilots every year.
"But those flying schools don't train pilots to acquire the qualifications required by airlines," Yuli was quoted as saying by Liputan6.com.
Ali said another stumbling block is the mindset among pilots that they have to work for major commercial airlines, when there are also opportunities at smaller, commuter airlines or chartered services.
Arista Atmadjati, an aviation lecturer at Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta, agreed, saying that new pilots tended to be picky when it came to finding jobs amid the already fierce competition in the workforce.
"They don't want to fly for small airlines serving routes in remote areas," Arista told Asia Focus, citing Susi Air, an airline owned by Maritime and Fisheries Affairs Minister Susi Pudjiastuti, which has 80% foreign pilots in its workforce.
On the other hand, most airlines don't want to invest in training new pilots so that they are certified to fly the specific aircraft that the airlines use. Meanwhile, there are foreign pilots better equipped with type rating certifications who are ready to fly.
It shows that demand for pilots, not just for regular airlines but also for chartered and commuter airlines, remains high in Indonesia.
"The new pilots could be absorbed in the workforce if they were not so picky as there are a lot of small airlines flying in remote areas," said Arista.
"Otherwise foreign pilots will continue to take the jobs as many of them work here seeking to acquire more flying hours."