Visiting India, Minister Of Transportation Budi Karya Jajaki Opportunities For Aviation Cooperation

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi paid a working visit to New Delhi, India.

During this visit, Minister of Transportation Budi met with three parties to discuss opportunities for cooperation in the aviation sector between the two countries.

The three parties met by the Minister of Transportation Budi were the Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of India▁fase Rajiv Bansal, the Group Director of GMR Srinivas Bommidala and the Finance Group Adani Jehad Adani.

Budi said bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and India in the aviation sector had been established since the signing of the Air Services Agreement on January 25, 2011.

Therefore, Budi admitted that he would use this meeting to increase the cooperation that had been established so far.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines from both countries had established regular connectivity between India and Indonesia.

Garuda Indonesia, Batik Air and Indonesia AirAsia, which previously operated from Indonesia to Mumbai andtrael. "We will try to improve air connectivity again between the two countries to return to normal as before the Covid-19 pandemic, it could even exceed to capture high enough demand in both countries," said Minister of Transportation Budi, in an official statement quoted on Friday, December 16.

In a meeting withOR Rajiv Bansal, Budi said that the Indonesian government was building 10 priority tourist destinations.

On this occasion, Budi also invited the private sector in India to take advantage of the opportunity to make direct flights from India to a number of tourist destinations.

In addition, Indonesia also hopes to hold direct connectivity to and from several new cities in India such as Hyderabad and Bangalore, through Medan, North Sumatra.

"Medan can be a strategic hub between Indonesia and India, whose airport is currently co-operated by Angkasa Pura II and GMR India. I hope this will be a good momentum to rebuild our aviation industry," he said. Airport Development Cooperation

In addition to meeting regulators, Minister of Transportation Budi also met with Managing Director and CEO of GMR.

Budi conveyed the opportunity to expand cooperation to invest in other airport developments after GMR joined AP II in managing Kualanamu Airport, Medan.

The Minister of Transportation hopes that GMR can participate in developing Kertajati Airport, which has now started serving flights for Umrah.

"On that occasion, GMR also expressed his interest and will discuss further with related parties," he said.

In addition, Budi also met with Adani Group, a company in which one of its business fields is the management of ports and airports in India.

On this occasion, said Budi, a number of things were discussed. Such as Adani's interest in the development of the Kuala Tanjung Port and discussing opportunities for cooperation in airport development, including YIA Airport in Kulonprogo, DIY.

"Adani also revealed that she is developing Mumbai Airport to increase the capacity of flight slots," he said.