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tate-run airport operator PT Angkasa Pura (AP) I will build two budget hotels at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar this year.

With an investment of Rp 50 billion (US$5.8 million), the hotels will be operated by Accor, the largest hotel operator in Asia and the Pacific, under the Formule 1 brand. AP I president director Tommy Soetomo said Thursday the project was part of the firm’s five-year expansion plan to provide 1,000 hotel rooms in six airports it operated.

“We handled 49 million passengers in 2010 and expect to maintain double-digit growth in the future, so there is the need for hotels as a main airport facility, similar to world-class airports,” he said after signing a memorandum of understanding with Gerard Guillouet, the vice president of Accor Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. As a hub to destinations in eastern Indonesia, Makassar was an ideal site for a hotel, Tommy said.

He added that non-aeronautical subsidiary PT Angkasa Pura Hotels would develop the hotels, with construction kicking off this year. He said he expected the hotels to be operational in 2012 with a revenue target of Rp 100 billion in three years.

AP II will also build hotels at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar and Syamsudin Noor Airport in Banjarmasin, he added.

Tommy said this new development was in line with refurbishments to 13 airports operated by AP I. Earlier, the firm said it had allocated Rp 3 trillion in capital expenditure this year to upgrade airports.

“Formule 1 is very suitable for the market. As we see an increase in domestic flights and visitors, there really is a need for affordable hotel rooms,” Guillet said, adding the room rate would range from Rp 350,000 to Rp 400,000.

Accor Indonesia’s development manager Pamudji Slamet said Accor would manage 282 rooms in the two airports — 152 in Juanda and 130 at Sultan Hasanuddin.

Earlier this month, Accor announced plans to open 21 new hotels by 2014 in Indonesia, one of its fastest growing markets in Asia.