Gendry Prahma was waiting for his flight to Jakarta on Friday at the newly built Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA) in Kulon Progo. It was his first time taking a flight from YIA as previously he always flew from Adisutjipto International Airport. His first impression was favorable.

“I think [the space] here is better, it is also much more organized and neater. In Adisutjipto, I am sorry to say, the size was small and not as big as here, so it’s good that it moved here,” he said.

One thing that concerned him was the location of YIA, which is about 44 kilometers from the city of Yogyakarta. Gendry had to take an airport train and shuttle bus to get there from the city. He hoped access to YIA could be more seamless in the future when the airport is fully operational.

Since serving its first commercial flight in May, YIA has been operating partially and has served more than 1,000 passengers on five routes, a total of 10 airplane movements in and out, every day.

State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura I president director Faik Fahmi said the new airport would be fully operational by the end of the year. The construction of the airport stands at a completion rate of 65 percent.

“The construction of the runway and apron is actually 100 percent complete. Now, we are focusing on finishing the terminal construction, also supporting facilities such as offices and cargo buildings while also ensuring accessibility to the airport,” he said recently.

To get to YIA from the city of Yogyakarta, travelers can take the airport train from Maguwo Station, near Adisutjipto, or from Tugu Station in the heart of Yogyakarta to Wojo Station about 5.7 km from the airport. From there, the airport authority provides shuttle buses to the airport.

In the future, to improve access to YIA, an additional 5.7 km of railway connecting Wojo Station to YIA terminal will be built, said the Transportation Ministry’s director of transportation and railway traffic, Danto Ristiawan.

“There will be new tracks to YIA, which will connect [directly] to the airport terminal from Wojo Station. The line will consist of 5 km of elevated track and 750 meters will be on the regular network,” said Danto adding that the construction would be carried out over the coming year with an operational target of 2021.

The full operation of YIA is expected to reduce the heavy traffic at Adisutjipto, which is now at bursting point. The airport’s capacity is only 1.8 million passengers annually but served 8.4 million passengers in 2018. In 2017, Adisutjipto recorded 7.8 million passengers after recording 7.2 million in 2016.

State-owned air navigation firm AirNav Indonesia president director Novie Riyanto said there were 188 commercial flights and 120 to 130 military flights every day in Adisutjipto.

“Hopefully, a large number of the flights can be moved to YIA gradually so the traffic in Adisutjipto will decrease and delays because of overcrowding can be reduced,” said Novie.

The cost of the construction of the new airport, which began last year, is expected to reach Rp 10.9 trillion (US$772.30 million), comprising Rp 4.2 trillion for land acquisition and Rp 6.7 trillion for building the terminal and runways and associated infrastructure.

With a 3.25 km runway, the airport can accommodate aircraft as large as Boeing 777s and Airbus A380s, while the 219,000-square-m terminal can accommodate up to 14 million passengers per year. At full operation, YIA will be able to serve up to 30 airplane movements per hour.

Currently, in its partial operation YIA only has five flights in and out every day by Citilink Indonesia and Batik Air. The airlines serve routes from Yogyakarta to Jakarta’s Halim Perdakusuma and Soekarno Hatta international airports and Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan and Samarinda in East Kalimantan.

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