TEMPO.CO, Sumenep - Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan promised to develop small regional airports to serve commercial flights, as long as regional governments provide the land, he said late Wednesday, September 23.

“We are ready to help with the development of Trunojoyo Airport,” Jonan said when inspecting the Trunojoyo Airport in Sumenep, East Java.

According to Jonan, the Transportation Ministry will allocate funds from the State Budget, provided that regional governments can carry out land acquisitions for the airport expansion.

The land, Jonan added, would be necessary for runway extensions and supporting facility developments.

“The current runway at the Trunojoyo Airport is only 1,160 meters. It needs to be extended to 1,600 meters,” Jonan said, adding that with a runway of leass than 1,200 meters, the airport could only serve pioneer aviation routes.

As a consequence, Jonan explained, the government had to subsidize ticket prices since the number of passengers was low. With a longer runway, the airport would able to accommodate bigger airplanes, such as ATR 42 or ATR 72 types.

Jonan concluded, higher number of passengers would mean cheaper tickets, and the government would not have to subsidize the ticket prices.

Since May 2015, the Trunojoyo Airport has been used by local airline Susi Air to serve pioneer aviation routes, such as Sumenep-Surabaya and Sumenep-Jember. The airline serves the routes twice a week using Cessna Grand Caravan airplane with a capacity of 12 passengers.

MUSTHOFA BISRI