Indonesia's First Private Airport to be Built in Bintan
29 April 2014 17:44 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia will have its first private airport, which also serves as the first aerospace park where aircraft maintenance repair service (MRO) will be conducted.
The airport and aerospace park will begin operation in 2016 on Bintan Island. "We initially built this airport to support our resort facility in Bintan, but we saw a business opportunity to also build an aerospace park there," said Frans Gunara, executive director of Gallant Venture, the investor that funds the airport construction, on Tuesday, April 29, 2014.
The investment for the airport and aerospace park costs around US$100 million each.
Gallant Venture has established cooperation with three MRO service providers, including Garuda Maintenance Facility (GMF), Muladatu, as a distributor for aircraft tires, and Regent Aerospace, a US-based aircraft interior company. "The number of MRO [service provider] will increase because there are [many MRO companies] in Indonesia," said Muladatu director Kurniadi.
Transportation Minister E. E. Mangindaan, responded to the aerospace park construction positively. He said that the aerospace park will be able to compete with MRO services provided by Singapore. "They have limited land, so Indonesia has a [bigger] chance," he said.
AMIR TEJO
