Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) - High prices for air tickets will cause some residents of Jayapura city in the easternmost Indonesian province of Papua to cancel their homecoming plans to celebrate Eid-al-Fitr in their hometowns.

"It is true that the high priced air ticket forced us to cancel our homecoming plan," Shanti, a resident of Jayapura, said on Sunday.

Shanti said she had yet to buy tickets, while waiting for the her husband's leave of duty permit.

However, since air tickets have shown no signs of declining in price three days ahead of Eid-al-Fitr, she, her husband and children are unlikely to travel to their hometown.

"We are sad because we cannot celebrate Eid-al-Fitr along with our parents in our hometown," said Shanti, who comes from Malang, East Java.

She said the cost of an air ticket to travel to Malang is Rp4 million, which would mean her family would have to spend Rp40 million for round trip tickets.

Chief of Sentani Airport in Jayapura, Anthonious Praptono, said the number of homebound Eid-al-Fitr travelers at the airport will likely fall 25 percent to 3,240 in 2019 from 4,320 in 2018.

In addition, the number of flights at the airport will also decline to 31 in 2019, from 37 one year earlier.

(INE)