KONTAN.CO.ID - JAKARTA. The new Yogyakarta International Airport (NYIA), located in a coastal area of Kulon Progo regency, will start operating its international terminal in April.

“We hope that international flights [currently] served by Adisutjipto International Airport will be relocated to NYIA in April,” state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I (AP I) general manager for Adisutjipto International Airport, Agus Pandu Purnama, said over the weekend in Yogyakarta.

He said the flights that would be relocated were direct flights to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. This is expected to reduce the burden of the old airport, which serves about 8.4 million passengers annually.

Construction of NYIA’s runway and 12,900-square-meter terminal is 69 percent complete, Agus said, adding that work is being done 24 hours a day to ensure the facilities would be ready in April.  

Meanwhile, development of the entire 210,000 sqm airport, which required a total investment of Rp 6.1 trillion (US$432.64 million), is 35 percent complete and expected to be fully finished by December 2019, he added.

According to PT AP I, NYIA’s international terminal is equipped with four air bridges and parking facilities that are expected to accommodate 342 cars and seven buses.

Agus said airlines from Qatar, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Japan and Australia had also expressed their interests to move to the new airport, which was designed to accommodate 300 landing slots when all its facilities are completed.

“An airline from Australia has even said that it may open direct flights from the country to Yogyakarta, like from Sydney to Yogyakarta, because the slots to Bali are already full,” Agus said.

However, before international services can start at NYIA, the Transportation Ministry will inspect the airport and verify that it is ready, he added.

Meanwhile, the head state-owned bus operator Perum Damri’s operational division, Suyamto, said to support the international terminal, the company planned to operate five shuttle buses to serve the NYIA-Wojo railway station.

“In the future, we will also operate buses from NYIA to Wonosobo, Cilacap, Purwokerto and Yogyakarta,” he added. 

Editor: Herlina Kartika Dewi