7 Airports to be designated Passenger and Cargo Hubs

Dec 15th 2006

In the latest development, Acting Head of Research and Development in the Department of Transportation, Denny Siahaan, disclosed that his Department plans to designate seven (7) airports as international passenger and cargo hubs for distribution to other provinces in Indonesia, reports Bisnis Indonesia.  These airports are: (1) The Kuala Namu airport of Medan, North Sumatra, (2) the Hang Nadim airport of Batam, Riau Islands, (3) the Soekarno-Hatta Airport of Jakarta in the province of Banten, (4) Juanda Airport of Surabaya, East Java, (5) Ngurah Rai airport of Bali, (6) Sepinggan Airport of Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, and (7) the Hasanuddin airport of Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Main consideration for this policy, says Siahaan, is the fact that these are already main gates for international tourist arrivals to Indonesia, especially since in future, arrivals through these gates will become the top requirement for tourist distribution in 2025.

Additionally, the Department of Transportation will designate 10 secondary airports to support the development of the airport hubs. These are (1) the Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport of Pekanbaru (Riau), (2) the Sultan Badaruddin airport of Palembang, South Sumatra, (3) the Halim Perdanakusuma of Jakarta. (4) the Ahmad Yani airport of Semarang in Central Java, (5) the Adisucipto airport of Yogyakarta, (6) the Selaparang airport of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, (7) the Supadio Airport of Pontianak in West Kalimantan, (8) the Sam Ratulangi airport of Manado, North Sulawesi and (9) the Frans Kasiepo and (10) the Sentani airports in Papua.

Nonetheless, Senior Consultant Harun Al-Rasyid Lubis reminds the government that in order to support the hub policy, there need to develop feeder airlines between hub airports and supporting points, that must be low-cost, easily accessible and comfortable.

The policy, still awaits a Ministerial Decree before it comes into force.