Three New Airports To Be Operational In Maluku

Ambon, Maluku, Feb 20 (Antara) - Three new airports will be operational in Indonesia`s eastern province of Maluku following the completion of their developments, a regional official stated. The head of the regional development planning board, Anthonius Sihaloho, confirmed here on Thursday that the three airports to be operational soon were Ibra airport in the Langgur district, Saumlaki Baru airport in the Tumbur and Lorulun district and Kuffar airport in the Seram Bagian Timur (SBT) district. The length of the runway at Saumlaki Baru airport is 1,461 meter while at Ibra and Kuffar, it is 1.4 thousand meters each, he explained. "It will be extended in stages later to reach 2.5 thousand meters in order to allow wide-bodied aircrafts to land there, as well as to upgrade the airports to meet international standards," he explained. He added that various supporting facilities, which have been built in stages since 2010, have been completed including apron, taxi way, terminal, waiting area as well as navigational facilities. Sihaloho added that teams from the ministry of transportation, as well as transportation and other technical services have already conducted a study and assessment on the feasibility of the new airports; trial flights will be done soon to mark their operation. "I have myself met with the minister of transportation, EE Mangindaan, to report about the completion of the airports and in response to that, the minister has commented that the airports will be operational along with 11 others in the country whose developments have also been completed," he clarified. Sihaloho explained that the functioning of the three airports will ease access to various regions, shorten journeys and reduce transportation costs. He described the transportation challenges in the region by citing the example of travelling between Bula, the capital of the SBT district and Ambon, the provincial capital, which would take 12 hours by speedboat, so far. He explained that by plane, the same distance would be covered within 1.5 hours only. "The operation of the Kuffar airport will cut traveling time from SBT to Ambon and ease social service provision to the people in the district," he elaborated. The operation of Saumlaki Baru and Ibra airports meanwhile will increase flight frequency from and to these areas by allowing wide-bodied aircrafts. "I am sure more airline companies will be interested in serving the routes from and to these three airports. Now an ATR-72 type aircraft, which is able to carry 70 passengers, can land at the airports. Earlier, only an ATR-42 with 40 passengers could do it," he pointed out. The head of the Maluku province`s transportation service, Ujir Halid, confirmed the plan to make the three airports operational soon. "We have already reported the readiness of the airports to the minister of transportation and it is hoped that the airports will be opened soon," he added. Ujir pointed out that the province has 1,340 islands and until now it had just 11 airstrips where only small aircrafts could land.