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Komodo to become international airport by June as Singapore’s Changi, Cardig prep facelift
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Komodo Airport is located on Flores Island and is considered the gateway to the highly popular Komodo National Park, which is on the neighboring island of Komodo. (JP/Wienda Parwitasari)
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omodo Airport in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, the main entryway to one of Indonesia’s tourism hotspots, will become an international airport in June, earlier than the government’s initial plan for 2021.
“We agreed to make it [an international airport] faster. Hopefully, the investors can be serious in developing the airport,” said Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi on Friday on the sidelines of the signing of an agreement between Komodo Airport’s developers.
PT Cinta Airport Flores (CAF), a business consortium 80 percent owned by publicly listed local aviation services company Cardig Aero Services and 20 percent owned by Singapore’s Changi Airports International, will be responsible for the development of Komodo Airport.
The Cardig-Changi business consortium has allocated Rp 1.2 trillion (US$88 million) to develop Komodo Airport. By becoming an international airport, Komodo Airport will have customs and border-control facilities to serve international flights.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has included Labuan Bajo in his administration’s “super-priority” tourist destinations, a program aimed at boosting tourism’s contribution to the economy and diversifying tourists from densely packed Bali. Apart from Labuan Bajo, the tourism hotspots include Danau Toba, Borobudur Temple, Mandalika and Likupang. The government has allocated Rp 10.17 trillion funds from the 2020 state budget to develop the super priority destinations.
Read also: RI lures foreign tourists with ‘super-priority’ destinations
The Transportation Ministry signed the agreement with Cinta Airport Flores on Friday to develop the Komodo Airport under a public-private partnership scheme. The business consortium holds a 25-year concession on the airport, during which it can build, finance, operate and maintain the facility prior to transferring it back to the government.
