Angkasa Pura I to enter ground handling business

JAKARTA (JP): PT Angkasa Pura I, a state-owned company that operates 12 airports, plans to diversify into ground handling services.

Angkasa Pura I's president, Fachri Zainuddin, said yesterday the company would set up a joint venture company with national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia to run the services.

Angkasa Pura I will own 70 percent of the new company and Garuda 30 percent.

"We plan to invest Rp 82 billion (US$34.1 million) in the new company," he told a House Commission V hearing.

He expected the new company would be incorporated by the mid- 1997.

"The new company will deal with ground handling at all of the airports managed by Angkasa Pura I," he said.

He said the Ministry of Finance had already approved the joint venture project.

The airports managed by Angkasa Pura I include Ngurah Rai in Bali, Hasanudin in South Sulawesi, Juanda in East Java, Sepinggan in East Kalimantan and Frans Kaisiepo in Irian Jaya.

The others are Sam Ratulangi in North Sulawesi, Syamsudin Noor in South Kalimantan, Adisucipto in Yogyakarta and Adisumarmo in Surakata, Central Java, Pattimura in Ambon, Ahmad Yani in Semarang, Central Java, and Selaparang in Lombok.

Fachri said his company would manage its 13th airport, Eltari in Kupang, next July.

In the hearing, which was attended by senior PT Angkasa Pura II executives, Fachri said his company posted a Rp 70.55 billion ($29.34 million) net profit last year, up 14 percent from Rp 61.88 billion in 1995.

He said that out of the 12 airports Angkasa Pura I operated, only airports in Bali, Surabaya, Ujungpandang, Yogyakarta and Semarang were profitable.

"The other airports still suffered losses last year due to not enough passengers. An airport will make profit if it handles at least one million passengers a year," he said.

Soekarno-Hatta

The president of Angkasa Pura II, Chusjairi, said his company posted a Rp 139.05 billion ($57.8 million) net profit last year, up 41 percent from Rp 98.4 billion in 1995.

Angkasa Pura II manages 10 airports including Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma airports in Jakarta, Badaruddin in South Sumatra, Supadio in West Kalimantan and Polonia in North Sumatra.

The other five are Simpang Tiga in Riau, Hang Nadim in Batam, Husein Sastranegara in West Java, Blang Bintang in Aceh, and Tabing in West Sumatra.

Chusjairi said there were 13.77 million passengers handled at Soekarno-Hatta airport last year, up 4.79 percent from 13.14 million passengers in 1995.

"We plan to expand Soekarno-Hatta airport which is expected to handle at least 18.19 million passengers in 2000," he said.

But he said his company still had financial problems.

He said that based on a presidential decree, Soekarno-Hatta airport was originally 3,014 hectares.

"Relating to the airport's development stage, we have got just 1,800 hectares," he said.

He said the area in the remaining 1,214 hectares had not been developed properly because things like warehouses, housing estates and other new buildings had been erected.

"These developments may endanger flight safety and will probably cause us problems if we want to appropriate land." (icn)