Tue, 29 Nov 1994

Airlines fail to pay airport fees on time

JAKARTA (JP): Many air carriers have failed to pay airport service fees on time, causing a decrease in the rates of return on investment for two state firms assigned to manage airports.

In a hearing with Commission V of the House of Representatives here yesterday, the presidents of the two companies -- PT Angkasa Pura I and PT Angkasa Pura II -- disclosed that some air carriers owe significant amounts of money to their firms.

The executives made the statements after a member of the commission, Sofyan Usman of the PPP faction, asked whether air carriers, including Sempati Air, had paid the fees for using airports in the country as scheduled.

Sempati Air leases Terminal A of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta.

Both Chusjairi of Angkasa Pura II and Fachri Zainuddin of Angkasa Pura I refused to explain their debts orally.

"We will answer your questions in written statements that we will submit later on," Chusjairi told members of the commission, which deals with transportation, tourism, post, telecommunications, housing and public works.

The two executives said their companies earn revenues mainly from aeronautics services including aircraft, aviobridge, flight and passenger services, and from non-aeronautics services including baggage, hangar and freight forwarding services.

A source at Sempati told The Jakarta Post here yesterday that the company leases Terminal A at the Soekarno-Hatta airport at US$17.5 per square meter per month with payments to be delivered every three months. Terminal A is 4,645 square meters wide.

The source, who asked to remain unidentified, refused to say whether Sempati had paid airport fees properly or not since it started leasing the terminal for its domestic flights late last year.

Concern

Commission members expressed concern over the rate of return on investment (ROI) of Angkasa Pura I that decreased steadily from 23.42 percent in 1991 to 9.78 percent in 1992 and to 6.11 percent last year. The ROI is expected to reach only 6.47 percent this year and 7.17 percent next year.

They were also concerned that Angkasa Pura II's profit of Rp 29.49 billion (US$13.4 million) during the first half of this year was too small as compared to its total assets of Rp 2.13 trillion.

Angkasa Pura, however, expects to double its profit from Rp 31.7 billion last year to Rp 70.46 billion this year and to increase it further to Rp 92 billion in 1995.

Angkasa Pura II manages nine airports, including Soekarno- Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma in Jakarta, Tabing in Padang (West Sumatra), Badaruddinn in Palembang (South Sumatra), Supadio in Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Polonia in Medan (North Sumatra), Simpang Tiga in Pekan Baru (Riau), Husein Sastranegara in Bandung (West Java) and Blang Bintang in Banda Aceh.

Angkasa Pura I also manages nine airports, including Ngurah Rai in Bali, Hasanudin in Ujungpandang (South Sulawesi), Juanda in Surabaya (East Java), Sepinggan in Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Frans Kaisiepo in Biak (Irian Jaya), Sam Ratulangi in Manado (North Sulawesi), Syamsudin Noor in Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan), Adisucipto in Yogyakarta and Adisumarmo in Solo (Central Java).

Angkasa Pura I expects to manage three more airports next year: Pattimura in Ambon of Maluku, Ahmad Yani in Semarang of Central Java and Selaparang in Lombok of West Nusa Tenggara.

Fachri said that Angkasa Pura I, in its efforts to improve services, plans to cooperate with foreign companies from Canada and Britain in the management of airports in Surabaya and Bali.(icn)