A senior official said on Thursday that Indonesian government has signed a new ministerial decree that will force airlines to pay passengers 300,000 rupiah (about US$35) if their flights are delayed by more than four hours.

Herry Bhakti Gumay, director general of aviation transportation at the transportation ministry said that the Transportation Ministry has signed Ministerial Decree No 77/2011, that covers insurance for flight delays, lost or damaged, checked in baggage and insurance for passengers injured or killed in a crash. The decree was signed on Aug. 8.

Herry pointed out that the recently-signed decree was different from the one issued by the ministry registered as decree No 25/ 2008, which only required airlines to provide snacks, complete meals and accommodation for certain delays.

Herry said that the new decree obligated airlines companies to pay compensation at 300,000 rupiah (about US$35) if their flights are delayed for more than four hours or cancelled. The new decree also obliges airlines to pay compensation at 200, 000 rupiah for lost baggage. That amount of compensation was for every kilogram of lost baggage. The lost baggage claim is limited up to 4 million rupiah (about US$466). The decree also obliges airline companies to pay compensation up to 1.25 billion rupiah (about US$145,800 ) for the families of deceased passengers in case of plane crash.

He said that the new decree will be implemented within, at least, three months to come.