Air Traffic Procedures Restructured

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Wisnu Darjono, the Indonesian Flight Navigation Service Organization Board (LPPNPI) Director of Safety and Standards, said that they plan to restructure the departure and arrival procedures of flights at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Traffic improvement is a short-term solution to increase the capacity of the airport, which is listed as one of the busiest airports in the world this year. "Essentially, there will be  a tightening of flight schedules," he told Tempo yesterday.

Wisnu said that the meeting between LPPNPI and Angkasa Pura II yesterday agreed to establish the  72 Improved Runway Capacity (IRC) programs as an effort to increase the capacity of the runway, from 64 to 72 planes per day. The program is expected to be completed by June, at the latest.

With this program, both parties will limit the planes' arrival and departure times. According to Wisnu, this was necessary because the two runways at the airport were not functioning optimally. "All this time, the runway is always full because there are planes that park for more than an hour," he said.

Other than the prohibition to park overly long on the runway, IRC 72 will also place restrict the airline arrival and unloading of passengers to 30-45 minutes, to enable spare time and vacant runways that can be utilized by other planes.

Wisnu said that Angkasa Pura II and LPPNPI plan to implement a new program, IRC 86 in 2015.  With this program, Soekarno-Hata Airport runway will be able to accommodate 86 planes per day. Wisnu is convinced that this can increase the capacity of the airport, in addition to building additional terminal that takes more time.

MARIA YUNIAR