Airport Set To Unveil First Part Of Terminal

The Jakarta Globe, Putri Prameshwari, March 18, 2009

Jakarta’s main international airport will open the first section of its new airport terminal in April, an airport management spokesman said on Tuesday.

“Soekarno-Hatta International Airport’s Terminal 3 will open its doors sometime in mid-April, although no exact date has been set for its official opening,” said Trisno Heryadi, spokesman of state airport operator, PT Angkasa Pura II.

“Pier 1 of the terminal is 99 percent completed,” he said, adding that the company had spent Rp 198 billion ($16.63 million) to build the first of the terminal’s five planned sections.

Trisno said the 30,000-meter-square terminal is scheduled to be completed by 2020, and one of the piers would be used for the country’s annual Hajj pilgrims. Each pier will have a capacity of handling four million passengers per year, he added.

The new terminal’s function, he said, will not be much different from the existing Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

“We can’t say at this stage whether the terminal will be used for certain airlines, like low-cost carriers,” he said. “We just aim to create a better, modern-looking terminal.”

AirAsia and Mandala Airlines have agreed to move to the new terminal, Trisno said.

Indonesia’s aviation industry has been growing rapidly since the end of 1990s, with low cost airlines serving millions of people to various destination. However, the country still does not have a customized terminal for budget airlines.

Suharto Abdul Majid, head of the air transport forum at the Indonesian Transport Society, said that airports should distinguish between different airline services, adding that the main difference between the two was “low-cost carriers charge for food and beverages. ”

Safety, Suharto said, should remain the priority despite low-priced ticketing.