New Radar to Be Built at Soekarno-Hatta Airport

Jakarta Globe, Putri Prameshwari & Arientha Primanita | August 30, 2010

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A day after the air traffic control radar at Indonesia’s busiest airport crashed, the Ministry of Transportation on Monday announced that it would begin building a new system that would manage flight control for all of western Indonesia.

Herry Bhakti Singayuda, the ministry’s director general for civil aviation, said that new navigational equipment worth Rp 750 billion ($83.3 million) would replace the old radar that has failed twice since June 2009 at Jakarta’s airport.

“We will build a new system called the Jakarta Automated Air Traffic Services at Soekarno-Hatta Airport,” he said, adding that “one of the system’s components is a new air traffic control radar.”

On Sunday, the airport’s radar went down for 30 minutes starting at 9:02 a.m. The incident disrupted dozens of flights, forcing state airport operator Angkasa Pura II to temporarily switch the system to manual to minimize flight delays.

Hari Cahyono, Angkasa Pura II’s corporate secretary, said it was still investigating the cause of the failure, but acknowledged the company’s software or hardware might be faulty. The system had been in operation since 1996.

“We realize people are wondering why the old system has not been replaced,” Hari said. “It is not that simple.”

The Ministry of Transportation’s Herry said that once installed, the system would also be used by most other airports in western Indonesia.

“It’s not like we have been neglecting this problem ever since the radar had a similar defect in June 2009,” he said. “But improving an airport takes a long time.”