Fear Of KKB Attacks, Airport Employees In Papua Don't Come To Work

Atmosphere of Bilorai Airport in Sugapa/Photo: Antara

JAYAPURA - The Head of the Intan Jaya Police, Grand Commissioner Adjutant of Police Sandi Sultan, admitted that the officers at Bilorai Airport in Sugapa, Intan Jaya Regency, had not yet returned and were on duty including officers from the aviation traffic control authority.

This is very risky because airport operations are not regulated either during takeoff or landing, so it is feared that it will have an impact on the safety and security of flight activities.

"Moreover, reaching Sugapa can only be done by plane and the vacancy has been going on since October 2021," he said in Jayapura, Papua, Tuesday, March 15.

The vacancy of officers including the head of Bilorai Airport will be reported to the minister of transportation because it has an impact on airport operations.

Currently, the security situation in Sugapa is relatively conducive, so there is no reason why the officers are still reluctant to return to their duties.

Indeed, officers, especially those from the aviation traffic control authority alias AirNav, have left the airport since there was a security disturbance by armed groups around Bilorai Airport in October 2021, but now the security situation is slowly getting back to being conducive.

The presence of airport officials, including the flight traffic control authority, is urgently needed, especially since the runway at Bilorai Airport in Sugapa is damaged so that it can cause flight accidents.

"The TNI-Polri are only tasked with securing (the airport) not regulating flight traffic," Sultan said as quoted by Antara.