President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Jan
span>President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Jan. 23 inaugurated the third runway of Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (SHIA), which was built to manage the rapid growth in air traffic at the country’s busiest airport.
Over the past two decades, air traffic congestion has caused frequent disruption at departure terminals, resulting in many delayed flights, even outright cancellation.
Air traffic had reached such a critical level that flight delays lasted between eight and 10 hours. Such a severe traffic problem could have been avoided had the SHIA management, in this case state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II, properly anticipated the impacts of growth in traffic.
Not only will the excessively high air traffic density be troublesome for travelers, but it will also threaten the safety of flights. Chaos in the departure hall will inconvenience passengers while they are at the airport.
Prior to the new runway’s opening, the government had tried to distribute excess flights from SHIA to East Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport, which also has an Air Force base. Unfortunately, many air travelers eventually switched to Halim airport because of the gridlocked roads to Soekarno-Hatta. Moreover, Halim is closer to downtown Jakarta than SHIA, which is located in Tangerang municipality in Banten.
The biggest challenge, though, is how to manage traffic during takeoffs and landings because Halim airport is not suitable for taking on the load of so many commercial, civilian flights.
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[...] landings and takeoffs at [Soekarno-Hatta airport] had increased to 114 per hour, from 82 per hour before the operation of Runway 3.
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Late last year, the Asia and Pacific office of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO APAC) sent a warning letter to the Indonesian government regarding the development of SHIA’s Runway 3.
The regional office of the world aviation governing body highlighted its runway safety recommendations, which says that because Runway 3 is only 500 meters from the existing runways, landings and takeoffs cannot be permitted on Runway 3 during landings and takeoffs no an adjacent runway.
Put another way, Runway 3 and any runway next to it cannot be used simultaneously, which means that the aim to ease air traffic cannot be fulfilled.
In response to the ICAO warning, Polana B. Pramesti, then-director general of civil aviation at the Transportation Ministry, argued that the Runway 3 would still be able to remedy air traffic congestion.
The ministry also stated that the frequency of landings and takeoffs at SHIA had increased to 114 per hour, from 82 per hour before the operation of Runway 3.
It is also possible that the increased frequency of landings and takeoffs is a result of the East Cross Taxiway, a taxiway intersection that was inaugurated along with Runway 3.
Pramesti also insisted that the operation of Runway 3 complied with aviation safety standards. The new runway, she said, would allow the airport to manage a larger number of aircraft movements.
Such claims could be good news, although we are still apprehensive about the risks that the ICAO pointed out.
If Soekarno-Hatta airport can handle more landings and takeoffs, all commercial flights can be transferred back from Halim airport to SHIA.
Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force base, a national air defense command center, can finally resume its original function and be declared a restricted area for all civilian aircraft.
For security reasons, Halim airport should no longer serve commercial flights, learning from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York that showed us how fragile and vulnerable commercial flights are to hijacking.
We should be grateful if the third runway at Soekarno-Hatta airport is a real answer to the chronic air traffic congestion there.
Air Traffic Control is certain to play a bigger role in maintaining safety as the airport gets busier.
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Cofounder, Indonesia Center for Air Power Studies (ICAP); former Air Force chief of staff
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