THE INDONESIAN government is set to tackle Jakarta international airport’s capacity problems by revamping it at a cost of 11.75 trillion rupiah (US$1.4 billion) over the next three years.
The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport redevelopment project will include renovating Terminal 1 and 2, completing the development of Terminal 3, and building a new cargo terminal.
The airport has the capacity to handle 22 million passengers yearly, but is currently catering to 44.2 million passengers. The situation has been a concern for the travel trade and air passengers, especially during peak season.
Indonesia’s vice president, Boediono, said: “The development of Soekarno-Hatta airport should be a national priority, as the longer we delay the project, the more difficult it will be to overcome (the problem of capacity shortage).”
The vice president’s spokesman Yopie Hidayat said that the target was to increase the terminal capacity to 62 million passengers per year, and the apron capacity from 125 aircraft to 174 aircraft by 2014.
Commenting on the plan, WITA Tours director of sales and marketing, Rudiana, said that improvement should not only be in terms of hardware, but also services.
“The convenience of passengers should be the priority,” Rudiana said. “There should be clear signs, lanes, and flows, especially for arriving passengers.”
