Lion Air to refurbish Juanda airport's old terminal

Achmad Faisal and Novan Iman Santosa

The Jakarta Post, Surabaya/Jakarta

Lion Airlines will invest Rp 300 billion (US$28.86 million) to develop facilities at the old terminal of Juanda Airport in Surabaya, East Java, which is owned by the Navy.

The strategy aims to expand the airline's market in eastern Indonesia, and boost maintenance efficiency.

Lion Air and the Navy signed Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to rent part of the old terminal of some 100,000 square meters (sqm).

Lion Air president director, Rusdi Kirana, said aviation facilities to be developed included hangars, runways, a maintenance center and special gates for Lion Air passengers.

"If the infrastructure development can be done in 12 months, we will open flights connecting Surabaya with Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur," he said.

"We will build the maintenance center in an effort to reduce our fleet maintenance costs currently carried out in Jakarta and Singapore."

Navy chief of staff, Adm. Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, said the cooperation was an effort to optimize the utilization of Navy assets which became idle after the new Juanda International Airport started operation on Nov. 15, 2006.

Juanda Airport was opened on Feb. 7, 1964 as a naval air station which also served civilian flights.

As civilian flights grew, the airport management was handed over by the then defense and security ministry to the transportation ministry which in turn handed the management over to state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I on Jan. 1, 1985.

The new terminal is on the north side of the old terminal owned by the navy. The new terminal has a total area of 51,500 sqm, twice the size of the old terminal at 28,088 sqm.

The airport has a 3,000-meter runway.

Lion Air director for general affairs Edward Sirait told The Jakarta Post Thursday the airline was anticipating the possibility of growth in traffic such that the present terminal would not be able to accommodate all their airplanes at one time.

"This will cause inefficiencies as long queues to get a parking spot means burning more fuel," he said.

"That is why we are preparing the old terminal as an alternative for us."

Edward said cooperation with the Navy would provide a dedicated terminal for Lion Air in due time without preventing other interested airlines from sharing the facility. "We are also studying new routes linking Surabaya with cities in eastern Indonesia."

First published on The Jakarta Post on Friday, May 15, 2009