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T Angkasa Pura I (AP I), the state-run airport company in charge of eastern parts of Indonesia, has signed a deal with the country's largest low-cost carrier Lion Air to build a dedicated taxiway at Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado, North Sulawesi this year.

The taxiway will connect the airport with the carrier's planned hangar for its maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services.

'As they plan to set up a hangar at Sam Ratulangi, they need access to help smooth the [hangar] operations. The development of the taxiway will be in accordance with our master plan for the airport including specifications and standards,' AP I president director Tommy Soetomo said.

He added that the company would immediately provide complete data on areas that were suitable and safe for the airline's project. The data was important because the project should not disrupt the airport's daily operations, he said.

The agreement dispelled rumors that Lion would move its hangar project to neighboring Malaysia.

Lion Air general affairs director Edward Sirait said that the firm would conduct a study on the project as soon as it received the data from AP I.

'We will conduct the study immediately because we're continually bringing new aircraft into operation and we have a vast expansion plan in the future,' he said.

Edward said that the firm had considered the hangar and taxiway project at Sam Ratulangi back in 2011 but the project did not go ahead as the parties could not reach a final agreement.

He said that the hangar project would be developed on a 6 hectare plot over several phases.

'We cannot develop the project at once because we need to prepare the MRO services carefully such as the engine test cell. Apart from that, we have been developing our hangars in Batam [Riau Islands] and Surabaya [East Java] for the past few years,' he said.

Edward said the company was currently finishing the last phase of its project at Batam's Hang Nadim Airport. They plan to commence operations of their MRO in June this year. The hangar was built on a 4-hectare site costing Rp 500 million (US$51,500).

Lion Air has recently signed a $24 billion deal with Airbus for 234 single-aisle A320 passenger aircraft. In 2012, the airline ordered 230 aircraft from US-based Boeing in a deal worth $22.4 billion.

This year, it plans to put 36 new aircraft into operation to support its expansion, comprising 30 Boeing B737-900s for its new full-service carrier Batik Air and six French-Italian Air Transport Regional (ATR) 72s, twin-engine turboprop planes, for feeder Wings Air.