Yogyakarta International Airport Is Ready To Operate Before Eid 2020

Garbarata at Yogyakarta International Airport. (Photo: Twitter @Sutopo_PN)

JAKARTA - Yogyakarta International Airport in Kulon Progo Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, is confirmed to be fully operational at the end of March or before Eid Al-Fitr 2020. The government also ensures that intermodal transportation is ready to support the operation of the airport which is often called the Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA).

"YIA will operate in March 2020," said Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi while reviewing YIA's physical development readiness, Saturday, December 28.

Budi Karya who is accompanied by the Deputy Minister of BUMN, PT KAI, and AP I, said that YIA supporting transportation needs to be prepared to support the operation of the new airport. The intermodal that needs to be prepared is a train with a relatively short distance, combined with a bus.

"We hope that the departure time must be certain, at least one hour once," said Budi Karya.

In addition, the Ministry of Transportation will determine certain points where Damri will stop, namely in the North or South. He also asked for a certain time of departure, either from Yogyakarta to YIA or YIA to Yogyakarta.

"So that passengers can measure, when they depart at 10.00 WIB, and the distance it takes is 1.5 hours, then from Yogyakarta it departs at 08.00 WIB," he said.

Regarding the physical development progress of YIA, Budi Karya confirmed that the development progress was in accordance with the development plan, and could be completed in March 2020. Last November 2019, YIA's construction had reached 88 percent of the total project as a whole.

Development has led to improvements, particularly related to the development of artwork or artwork at YIA. Yogyakarta International Airport General Manager, Agus Pandu Purnama, said it took about two months to work on this touch of art.

"The physical building has been completed, just complete the touches of the artwork," he said.

The progress of the construction of Kulon Progo Airport until the end of November has grown by 14 percentage points compared to the end of last August. At that time, YIA's development progress was only at 74 percent.

Not only airport buildings, but also supporting facilities are experiencing good progress. Agus revealed that currently the physical construction of the hotel is being pursued.

The target is that by February 2020, the physical hotel at Kulon Progo Airport can be completed. The target is claimed to have not changed compared to the previous plan. "Currently, we are building the hotel," he added.

Agus explained that the existing hotel development at YIA has 55 rooms. The purpose of building hotels is more geared towards aviation. So when the hotel has been built and YIA is fully operational by April 2020, flight crews can stay there. No more confused crews looking for a three-star or five-star hotel.