T

he government says it has cleared the way to create a new state-owned company to manage national air traffic control services.

Transportation Ministry air transport chief Herry Bhakti Gumay said the ministry, the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry and the Law and Human Rights Ministry had recently approved a draft government regulation covering the establishment of the firm and were ready to send the draft to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for final approval.

“[Transportation Minister] E. E. Mangindaan led a joint meeting to discuss the draft [on Tuesday] and finally secured the long-awaited approval of the draft’s overall content from related ministries,” Herry said.

“Looking at the progress, we are upbeat that a government regulation that rules on the establishment of a state-owned air navigation services firm can be officially issued by the end of the year,” Herry told a press conference.

According to the draft, Indonesia’s air navigation services would be controlled by the Indonesian Air Navigation Services Organization (PPNPI), Herry said.

Indonesia currently has more than 230 airports, most of them operated by Transportation Ministry technical operation units and state-owned companies PT Angkasa Pura I (AP I) and PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II).

The 2009 Aviation Law stipulated that the government must transfer air navigation service management from airport operators to a non-profit institution by January 2012 to improve air traffic services (ATS).

The nation’s ATS system has been struggling with, among other things, a lack of air traffic controllers and aging infrastructure.

Implementation of the law has been sluggish, however, as the government has not issued supporting regulations to establish such an institution.

Sources familiar with the draft said that PT Angkasa Pura I and II were very reluctant to let their
ATS businesses go as they would lose both air navigation-related assets and a chunk of revenue from airlines.

Herry, however, said the transfer of air navigation assets from state airport operators to the new firm would not create problems.

“The new firm and the existing airport operators are all owned by government. So, it will be just like moving [money] from one pocket to another,” he said.

PT Angkasa Pura II is currently busy developing major airports under its control, such as Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, to accommodate passenger growth.

Meanwhile, PT Angkasa Pura I inked on Wednesday a joint management partnership with Korea’s Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) to help improve customer service at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java. (fem)