Soekarno-Hatta airport to get budget terminal
The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali
A government minister says a special terminal will be built at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport to serve the country’s budget airlines.
Transportation Minister Hatta Rajasa said in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Thursday that separate terminal was essential to improving the efficiency of the country’s no-frills airlines.
“Like Malaysia and Singapore, we will also open a low-cost terminal for budget airlines,” he said in his opening address to a national meeting of the Indonesian Air Carriers Association (INACA).
He did elaborate, except to say that the new terminal would open in 2008.
He also said that the government would privatize the distribution of aviation fuel, which is now monopolized by state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina.
“Privatization is necessary to reduce the high operating costs of domestic airlines. This is what they have been waiting for,” he said.
Hatta said that new aviation fuel distributors would be selected by competitive tender, and that the winners would, during the first stage, be allowed to supply aviation fuel to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport and Surabaya’s Juanda Airport.
He said that allowing newcomers into the aviation fuel distribution business would also encourage Pertamina to improve its services, particularly as regards the payment system.
The cash payment system applied by Pertamina at the moment, whereby aviation has to be paid for in cash immediately after being pumped, had long been causing problems for the airlines.
“Pertamina had planned to change the payment system to a card-based system called Pertamina Card Net, but this has yet to materialize,” he said.
Garuda president Emirsyah Satar applauded the government’s decision to privatize fuel distribution, saying that with the entry of new players, Pertamina would have no choice but to improve its services. The director general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, Andrew Herdman, echoed Amirsyah’s comments, saying that airlines would benefit from greater choice following privatization.