JavaBrew-Yogya-AdisuciptoAirport

JavaBrew-Yogya-AdisuciptoAirport

JP/17/ADISUC

Adisucipto aims to become Java cargo service hub

Slamet Susanto
The Jakarta Post/Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta's Adisucipto Airport is preparing itself to become the
hub of cargo services for the Java region, especially for the
southern part of the island.

The airport's management company PT Angkasa Pura I appointed
two private cargo companies earlier this month to professionally
manage the business and open new cargo markets under a profit
sharing scheme.

The companies are PT Dharma Bandara Mandala for the domestic
cargo services and PT Global Anindya Mataram for the
international services.

According to operational manager M Gatot of Adisucipto
Airport's PT Angkasa Pura I, a cargo warehouse, office complex,
and administration system are being prepared to support the cargo
services at the airport.

Built some 200 meters from the main airport, the construction
of the building of the airport's cargo service center will finish
next year and the service will begin in the same year.

"Once it is already fully operational, handicrafts,
agricultural and marine products that has so far faced
difficulties in finding an international market can be exported
through the airport," Gatot told The Jakarta Post.

The airport is expected to help increase the export volume of
agricultural and fisheries products as well as handicrafts in the
region, and to eventually help the expansion of small and medium
enterprises.

The international cargo service at Adisucipto Airport,
according to Gatot, is stagnant. But, that, he added, is not due
to the lack of potential, but rather the lack of international
cargo facilities.

"The potential here is very big. We have plenty of handicraft
and furniture products. The potential of the neighboring cities,
too, are as big as that of Yogyakarta," Gatot asserted.

Staff member Yogi of PT Dharma Bandara Mandala agreed, saying
that the domestic cargo potential of Adisucipto Airport was very
big with a current average capacity of 10 tons of cargo per day.

"If properly managed while new markets are also opened, I do
believe the capacity can rise far above this figure," said Yogi,
adding that the current capacity accounted only for cargo to
Indonesia's big cities.

"Being a tourist destination as well as handicraft city, I'm
quite sure that the capacity can increase two fold or three
fold," he added.

Speaking separately to the Post Yogyakarta provincial
secretary Bambang Susanto Priyohadi said that the provincial
government was very supportive of the plan to make Adisucipto the
hub of cargo services in Java.

"We are currently inviting investors to invest here and help
develop small and medium enterprises in Yogyakarta," Bambang
said.

To ease the entry of products of small and medium businesses
into the international market, the provincial government has also
launched a program to improve the quality of their products, said
Bambang.

The local government is offering soft loans in cooperation
with a bank to small and medium businesses. The provincial
government has provided Rp 20 billion of the fund while the bank
has prepared Rp 120 billion for the provision of soft loans.

Bambang also said although the international cargo service had
shown good prospects.

Jamu Merit, a herbal medicine company from the neighboring
town of Magelang, Central Java, has been exporting to Malaysia
through Yogyakarta's Adisucipto Airport for some time.

A trial in exporting mushrooms from Wonosobo, also in Central
Java, to Thailand and other countries, according to Bambang, has
also been conducted at the airport.

"There are many other agricultural and fishery products here
that have not yet been exported due to the inadequate
international cargo facilities. The new facility will help the
products reach the destination country faster and fresher,"
Bambang said.

Bambang, therefore, expressed hope that the establishment of
an international cargo service at Adisucipto Airport would in
turn encourage people to export agricultural and fishery products
from Yogyakarta and the surrounding area.

To support the program, the provincial government has also
built a large car park at the north of the airport. At the same
time, the airport's management company is also building a new
passenger terminal with a capacity of 5,000 passengers per day.

The previous capacity was 700 passengers a day while the
number of passengers reaches up to 3,500 passengers a day at
present.