Kualanamu Airport Still Suffers from Hiccups

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After one week in operation, a number of hiccups are still found at the new Kualanamu International airport in Deli Serdang, North Sumatera province, ranging from broken lifts and toilets, and the comfort aspects for passengers that the operator has seemed to ignore.

Another example is the waiting room at the departure lobby, which is connected with the airport train. Passengers, or waiting relatives, cannot sit comfortably there due to the limited number of seats; thus they have to sit on the floor while waiting for their relatives and oncoming airplanes.

A number of facilities on the second and third floor at the airport also do not function well. According to Tempo's observation on Saturday, August 3, 2013, facilities like transit hotels, stores, and cafes have not been in operation.

Still on the second floor, the toilets can be used already but the hand dryer machines and the faucets do not function yet.

Some passengers even used the second floor, which connects the train station to the departure lounge, to sit or lay down on the floor.

To make matters worse, one of the lifts in the third floor, which is used to drop off passengers from the toll road to the departure gate, also does not function.

For all those hiccups, PT Angkasa Pura II as the airport's operator has expressed its apology in a notice put on the departure gate: "The terminal is under repair. Sorry for the inconvenience."

One of the passengers, Elvyn, said that she was not comfortable with the condition of the airport. "It's far from what I imagined. This airport has not shown its class as an international airport. It has not given optimal services for the passengers yet. I don't feel comfortable being here," Elvyn told Tempo.

In the meantime, officers of PT Angkasa Pura admitted the airport's lack of comfort. "We're still building facilities inside the terminals. We also would like to apologize for the broken lifts," said Syahril, one of the officers.

SAHAT SIMATUPANG