Airline association objects to more 'administrators'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) has objected to the government's plan to assign additional administrators to the country's four international airports, saying this would place an unacceptable financial burden on the airports.

"The existing airport administrators do not fully function as supervisors as they were intended," said INACA secretary-general Tengku Burhanuddin after a hearing with House of Representatives Commission V on transportation, telecommunications, public works and housing on Thursday.

The government wants to assign administrators from the Ministry of Transportation to Polonia Airport in Medan, North Sumatra; Juanda International Airport in Surabaya; Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar; and Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Burhanuddin said the administrators already at these airports mostly did administrative work such as permit approvals, instead of supervising state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura.

INACA fears adding more administrators to the airports would lead to overlapping duties, more bureaucracy and greater inefficiency.

"We demand transparency from the government ... because the customers (airline operators) are often confused when dealing with the bureaucracy, such as who to go to when applying for permits," Burhanuddin said.

Airline operators agreed, saying they did not see any coordination between the airport administrators and the airport operator in managing the airports and providing service.

Commenting on these complaints, the public relations manager of PT Angkasa Pura II, M. Wasfan, acknowledged there was the possibility of overlap in operational work, particularly in the issuance of permits such as entrance permits to the airports or restricted zones.

He said PT Angkasa Pura II, which oversees Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, acted more as a daily technical operator, while the airport administrators served as coordinators.

However, Soekarno-Hatta airport administrator head A. Moersantoso said concerns over the coexistence of the airport operator and airport administrators were overblown.

"We are responsible for the safety of the airport, particularly security issue," he said.

Apart from airport security, Moersantoso said the administrators also ensured the security of the aircraft. (003)