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ecause of the increasing number of passengers entering Bali, Indonesia’s tourism gate, the government has underlined the need to build a new airport on the island.

The Transportation Ministry’s director general for air transportation, Agus Santoso, said the number of passengers departing from and arriving at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport had been following an upward trend.

Last year, it welcomed 21 million passengers, up from around 20 million a year earlier.

“If the [passenger] number grows each year to 22 million and then to 35 million, certainly we have to manage it,” Agus said on Tuesday.

With the current capacity of the airport’s single runway and terminal, its maximum capacity was around 35 million passengers, which could be achieved in the next five to 10 years in line with the surging number of passengers, he added.

Agus, however, underlined that the expansion of the existing runway would not be feasible because that would require land reclamation due its position on the seaward side of the island.

“That’s why we are going to think about [building] the northern Bali airport,” he said.

Earlier, private airport operator PT Bandara Internasional Bali Utara (BIBU), among others, revealed a plan to build a new airport in northern Bali with an investment of US$2 billion.

It would have been supported by private investment, mostly from Middle East investors.

The airport was intended to add more aircraft traffic and bring an extra 32 million passengers to Bali and help ease the congestion at Ngurah Rai.

However, the plan did not materialize due to the absence of a location permit from the ministry.

Agus said the development of the northern Bali airport might have to wait until passenger traffic in Bali reached its peak.

Currently, state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP) I is expanding Ngurah Rai’s apron to welcome around 15,000 delegates who will convene for the Inernational Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank (WB) Annual Meetings in October.

It has set aside Rp 1.7 billion ($123,590) for the project.

AP I corporate secretary Israwadi said the company would consider the idea of building another airport in Bali in the wake of a passenger surge.

“We are looking at the option of building an airport apart from Ngurah Rai [airport]. It has a limited capacity expansion.”

Israwadi said because the Bali government already had such a plan, the company might take part in it.

“If the number of passengers exceeds 40 million, it will be impossible [to expand the airport] on the existing land,” he added.

AP I may enlarge the runway to approximately 250 meters to welcome bigger aircraft, such as an Airbus A380, a move that could jack up the number of passengers to 37 million.

Last year, it handled 89 million arriving and departing passengers at 13 of the airports under its management.

The figure is expected to climb to 99 million this year and further jump to 130 million in the next five years.