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tate-run airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) has earmarked Rp 3 trillion (US$240 million) to finance the acquisition of land for the development of a third runway at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, a project which has suffered repeated delays.

New AP II president director Budi Karya Sumadi said that the funds would come from the government'€™s capital injection into the airport operator.

Budi, who is the former president director of city-owned property company PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), said that in the first phase of the construction, the firm would acquire a total of 200 hectares of land this year.

'€œThe total land needed to construct the whole runway is about 800 hectares. We will also ask for a further state capital injection next year so we can acquire the remaining land needed,'€ he said recently. '€œAs for the first phase, we are planning to begin the construction next year.'€

The third runway is crucial as AP II data show that the annual number of passengers at Soekarno-Hatta reached 60.13 million in 2013, nearly three times its annual capacity of 22 million passengers.

According to Budi, the third runway will increase the capacity of the overburdened airport to more than 60 million passengers per year.

He added that the firm would also allocate around Rp 3 trillion to capital expenditure this year to expand the airport'€™s first, second and third terminals, as well as to maintain the existing runways.

The firm is planning to enlarge the first terminal at Soekarno-Hatta to 204,445 square meters by 2017 from the current 144,635 square meters, to accommodate 18 million passengers annually.

The second terminal will also be expanded from its current 154,936 square meters, with a capacity of 9 million passengers a year, to 168,546 square meters to accommodate 19 million passengers by 2016.

'€œWe are also planning to expand the third terminal'€™s commercial area, as we need to generate more non-aero revenue,'€ Budi said.

Ahead of the ASEAN open-sky policy, which is scheduled to come into effect at the end of this year, Budi said that AP II wanted to see Soekarno-Hatta become ASEAN'€™s second-best airport within the next three years.

The firm is also on track to expand its business in the hotel industry, with plans to construct two three-star hotels at its newly built Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.

The airport operator is in the process of opening a tender for the construction of the hotels '€” one transit hotel to be located in the airport terminal and the other, a business hotel, to be built near the airport'€™s main gate.

AP II plans to develop Kualanamu into an '€œaerotropolis'€ by integrating the airport with Belawan Port, Kuala Tanjung Port and Batubara regency, in a bid to spur the province'€™s economic growth.

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is the 10th busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, according to the 2013 Airports Council International (ACI) world airport traffic report.

The report also named Soekarno-Hatta, with 6.13 million passengers in 2013, the busiest airport in Southeast Asia and the fourth busiest in Asia after airports in Beijing, Tokyo and Dubai.

The ACI report ranked Atlanta Hartsfield-Jakson International Airport in the US as the world'€™s busiest airport, with 94.4 million passengers passing through the airport in 2013.

The second-busiest airport was Beijing International Airport with 83.7 million passengers in 2013. Heathrow Airport in London ranked third with 72.4 million.

Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan, ranked fourth, followed by O'€™Hare International Airport in Chicago and Los Angeles International Airport, US, at fifth and sixth, respectively. Airports in Paris and Dallas, US, ranked eighth and ninth, respectively.