T

he Transportation Ministry is planning to take over the management of certain airports that are bleeding funds and are currently being run by state-owned airport operators PT Angkasa Pura I (AP I) and PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II).

'€œWe have proposed the plan to the President and to the state-owned enterprises minister to take over commercial airports that are recording losses, to help ease the burden of the state-owned operators and also to develop the airports so they can provide more benefits for the public,'€ Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan told reporters on Wednesday night.

Among the airports that would be taken over, according to the ministry'€™s director general for air transportation, Suprasetyo, were Silangit Airport in North Tapanuli, North Sumatra; Supadio Airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan; and El Tari Airport in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.

'€œFor example the airport in Kupang, which is not being developed to its full potential. The operator is unable to operate it for 24 hours [per day] because it'€™s not making any profit,'€ Suprasetyo said.

'€œIf the state-owned operator is willing to hand it over to the ministry, we will manage the airport,'€ he continued.

Suprasetyo said that the ministry would manage the airports under a public service agency (BLU) to improve service standards and generate more income for the state.

AP I, which manages airports in the eastern part of the country, has been struggling to develop El Tari Airport because more than half of the land area belongs to the Air Force, according to the company'€™s corporate secretary Farid Indra Nugraha.

'€œWe are facing difficulties in developing the airport since it is also used by the military and most of the land belongs to the Air Force,'€ Farid told The Jakarta Post. '€œThe airport development would be much easier to execute if it was operated by the government and we will fully support the transportation minister'€™s plan,'€ he continued.

AP II spokesperson Achmad Syahir said the firm had not received a notification from the ministry regarding the plan. '€œWe will just wait for the instruction from the government because the government is our shareholder; therefore we will support its policy,'€ he said.

AP I saw its operational profit grow by 70 percent to Rp 1.1 billion (US$84,291) in 2014 from Rp 693 million in 2013.

Meanwhile, AP II, which manages airports in the western part of the country, including the country'€™s main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, booked Rp 1.09 trillion in profit last year, a slight increase from the Rp 1.03 trillion it booked the previous year.

The Transportation Ministry would also begin the revitalization of three non-commercial airports '€” Labuan Bajo in West Nusa Tenggara, Radin Inten II in Lampung and Mutiara in Central Sulawesi '€” that had been offered to potential investors in recent years, but which had attracted no offers. The ministry would also develop those airports under the BLU scheme.