READY FOR TAKE-OFF

It will be all systems go for Indonesia’s new Yogyakarta International Airport in 2020 when it fully opens its facilities, writes Joe Bates.

Built to replace the old and outdated Adisutjipto International Airport (JOG), Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA) is Indonesia’s newest gateway, although it won’t really come into its own until its infrastructure fully opens in 2020.

Located in the Yogyakarta Special Region in Central Java, the $775 million gateway actually opened in May and has been operating in tandem with JOG since then, handling around 10 daily domestic departures while work finished on its new terminal.

However, with the work now complete, all the remaining flights serving JOG are expected to switch to YIA in early 2020 ensuring that YIA becomes Indonesia’s sixth international gateway.

It has handled around 52,000 passengers daily since its May 2019 opening, but this figure is expected to dramatically increase with the new flights, which will include international services to destinations such as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Located 60 kilometres from Yogyakarta, YIA boasts a single 219,000sqm terminal and a 3,250m long runway that effectively give it the capacity to handle up to 20 million passengers annually.

And the capacity will be needed as JOG handled a record 8.4 million passengers (+7.7%) in 2018 and the upward trajectory in traffic across Indonesia’s airports shows no sign of slowing down.

Indeed, a record 135 million passengers used Indonesia’s airports in 2018 and ACI predicts that Indonesia will climb from being the 10th largest aviation market on the planet in 2017 to the fourth biggest by 2036.

YIA operator, PT Angkasa Pura 1 (AP1), notes that the terminal has “significantly” more space than the 15,137sqm one at Adisutjipto International Airport, and that it is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and over 8,000sqm of commercial space that will be “filled by a wide selection” of retail and F&B outlets.

It is also quick to point out that YIA is one of the region’s safest airports as it has been built to withstand natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes.

As a result, Yogyakarta’s six metre high, two-storey terminal building is designed to withstand an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and its 3,250m x 45m runway is located 400m from the shoreline and eight metres above sea level to avoid flooding.

AP1, which operates 15 airports across Central and Eastern Indonesia, reveals that YIA has 22 aircraft parking stands and is capable of handling widebody aircraft up to the size of the A380.

“YIA’s terminal has allowed for the introduction of state-of-the-art facilities within a building that is 14 times larger than the existing airport. This will provide safer, more secure and effective operations and a better airport experience for both passengers and the airlines,” says AP1 president director, Faik Fahmi.

“The hope is that the new airport will make Yogyakarta easier and more convenient to visit by boosting the region’s non-stop connectivity to the world.

“As the centre of Javanese heritage, Yogyakarta offers a huge number of historic and cultural attractions to tourists. These include the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Borobudur and Prambanan, which have long since made it one of Indonesia’s favourite leisure destinations after Bali.

“This, despite it being quite difficult to get to for foreign visitors, often involving one or two stop-overs in either Jakarta, Bali, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.

“The goal of the National Tourism Priority Development Program is to attract more tourists to visit Indonesia, beyond Bali, and we believe that Yogyakarta International Airport will help do just that. It has the potential to become the new gateway for tourism in the Central Java region.”