BAA to manage Ngurah Rai airport

JAKARTA (JP): British firm BAA Pacific has agreed to manage Bali's Ngurah Rai airport's commercial activities in a joint operation with state airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I.

Angkasa president Fachri Zainuddin said yesterday BAA would help expand the airport's commercial activities.

The US$46 million expansion would start once the Ministry of Finance approved it, he said.

"The joint operation will allow BAA to manage the commercial activities for 20 years. In return, BAA is required to provide commercial spaces for duty free shops," he said after meeting Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto.

He said profit from the airport's commercial activities would increase by at least 5 percent a year. "Our profit reached $18.5 million in 1995 and was estimated to reach $20.5 million last year."

Fachri said if profit rose more than 5 percent, the rest would be shared equally between Angkasa and BAA.

Angkasa operates airports in Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi, Surabaya in East Java, Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, Biak in Irian Jaya, Manado in North Sulawesi, Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, Yogyakarta, Surakarta in Central Java, Ambon in Maluku, Semarang in Central Java and Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.

BAA operates international airports including London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports and airports in Minneapolis and Pittsburgh in the United States.

BAA executive John Egan said his company was "interested to deal with the Ngurah Rai airport because of the rapid growth in number of passenger arrivals. This is a terrific place to start".

He said BAA would improve Ngurah Rai airport which had 5.6 million passenger arrivals last year.

BAA's 1995 revenue was $2.5 billion and its profit $600 million. We expect a 10 percent growth rate in profit," Egan said. (icn)