Soekarno-Hatta International Airport's Terminal 3 Starts Operations
On Tuesday (09/08), Terminal 3 of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, located just outside Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta, becomes operational. This IDR 7.7 trillion (approx. USD $588 million) terminal is designed to have the capacity to handle some 25 million passengers per year. In the first phase of the terminal's operations, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will use it for its domestic flights (about 126 per day). Gradually, Garuda will serve international flights from this terminal, followed by international flights of other airlines.
Arif Wibowo, General Director of Garuda Indonesia, informed reporters that in the future his company will use Terminal 3 for all its flights, whether domestic or international. He added that air passengers can now enjoy excellent pre-flight and post-flight services at the new terminal. In the early hours of Tuesday (09/08) Wibowo together with Angkasa Pura II General Director Djoko Wiriatmojo launched the premium check-in area of Terminal 3, as well as the domestic lounge, and Gate 14. Angkasa Pura II is the state-owned airport services company that operates the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Terminal 3 - its full name is Terminal 3 Ultimate - will not be operating at full capacity right away. Construction will continue into 2017. In the first phase, when only Garuda Indonesia is allowed to use the terminal, it can handle some 12 million passengers per year. After completion of the full project at the end of the first quarter of 2017 this figure should rise to 25 million.
As a whole, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport should then be (directly) connected to more than 70 countries across the globe (up from 30 countries in 2015). This would imply that Jakarta's airport becomes on par with the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. However, to compete with Singapore's Changi Airport, which is directly connected to more than 100 countries across the world, will require more time. However, Indonesian authorities are eager to create enough quality and quantity in terms of airport facilities at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in order to have overtaken the leading positions of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur by the year 2021. Earlier, Indonesian Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi said Angkasa Pura will need to improve the quality of its human resources in order to compete with other regional international airports.
The building of Terminal 3 Ultimate covers 331,101 m2, while its parking space covers 85,578 m2, and the VVIP building covers 6,124 m2. The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is Indonesia's busiest airport. After Terminal 3 Ultimate has become online the airport's total annual passenger-handling capacity is set to rise from 55 million in 2015 to 70 million. It will further rise to an annual capacity of 80 million passengers once renovations at terminals 1 and 2 are completed.
In the future Angkasa Pura II is also to develop a fourth terminal, next to Terminal 3 Ultimate. The land acquisition process for this fourth terminal is expected to start in 2018 (land acquisition is a lengthy and costly affair in Indonesia), while completion of the terminal could be realized in 2021 if not major obstacles occur. There will also be a people mover system between terminals, similar to Changi Airport's sky-train.
Meanwhile, the land acquisition process for the development of the 3rd runway of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is currently underway. This third runway is needed to optimize passenger capacity and flight frequency at the airport. An estimated 173,19 hectare plot of land is required to construct the 3,000 meters-long runway. Construction, which will require some USD $350 million worth of capital, is scheduled to start near the end of 2016.