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tate-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II, which manages commercial airports in the western part of the country, is conducting a feasibility study to install a renewable energy source at Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.

AP II operational director Djoko Murjatmodjo said that the initiative was aimed at supporting the government'€™s green aviation program by producing its own electricity source.

'€œThe feasibility study may take a year and we are planning to establish a subsidiary to manage the renewable energy source that will be used for electricity to operate the airport,'€ Djoko told reporters on Wednesday.

Djoko, however, said that the firm had not decided on the type of renewable energy source that would be used at the airport and could not yet reveal the investment estimation to build the plant.

According to Djoko, another attempt by the firm to support the government'€™s program to reduce carbon emissions was through the operation of a 29-kilometer railway service connecting Kualanamu to North Sumatra'€™s capital city of Medan.

Kualanamu, said to be the country'€™s most modern airport, is the first airport to be linked to a railway service.

However, according to Djoko, the occupancy rate of the railway service '€” operated by KAI Railink, a joint venture between AP II and state-owned train operator KAI '€” was only around 20 percent of the total passengers in the airport.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the number of domestic passengers at Kualanamu reached 3.1 million last year, while the number of international passengers reached 865,700.

'€œWe want to increase the percentage by at least 30 percent by adding more stations between Kualanamu and Medan, for instance in Araskabu,'€ Djoko said.

By increasing the number of train passengers, AP II expects to help reduce vehicle emissions.

KAI Railink is constructing a railway connecting the country'€™s main gate, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, with Manggarai train station in South Jakarta. The operation of the new railway is expected to commence next year.

The Transportation Ministry is currently pushing the aviation industry to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

According to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), global carbon emissions from aviation is estimated to reach 667 million tons in 2012. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is tasked with reducing international emissions, making up around 62 percent of total global emissions.

Following the Transportation Ministry'€™s agreement with ICAO to reduce carbon emissions in the aviation sector in 2013, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry issued Ministerial Regulation No. 25/2013 on biofuel, requiring the aviation sector to reduce the use of fossil fuels by including at least 2 percent biofuel in its avtur starting January 2016.

The percentage of biofuel in the avtur is expected to gradually increase to 3 percent in January 2020 and 5 percent in 2025, the regulation says.