For decades, Bandung airport’s traffic stagnated due to a lack of new flights and its proximity to Jakarta. This is all over and the airport is now working on a massive expansion to cope with rising passengers’ numbers.
JAKARTA- For decades, Bandung airport was a sleepy facility, as if it was frozen in times with its Art Deco style air terminal and its few domestic air services, mostly done with propeller aircraft. The proximity of Jakarta Soekarno Hatta International Airport was seen as the main handicap to the airport’s development. This is all over today. The arrival of AirAsia eight years ago changed dramatically the airport destiny. In October 2008, Bandung was only linked to four cities, three in Indonesia (Batam, Denpasar and Surabaya) and to Kuala Lumpur by just two airlines. In October 2012, Bandung’s timetable shows flights to 13 destinations including international flights to Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Singapore. Ten airlines serve the airport on scheduled flights including two international carriers, AirAsia Bhd from Malaysia and Silk Air from Singapore. More airlines such as Citilink, Garuda low cost subsidiary and Indonesia Air Transport are looking at adding new frequencies.
Consequently, Bandung airport reaches its saturation point. Conceived for only 700,000 passengers a year, the airport expects to welcome this year over 1.5 million air travellers. Last week, Airport state company Angkasa Pura II unveiled plans for the extension of the passengers’ terminal by 300% to a capacity of 2.5 million passengers a year.
Angkasa Pura II is planning to expand Bandung’s Husein Sastranegara International Airport passenger terminal, to increase its capacity by up to 300 percent. The terminal’s expansion will extend onto land on the eastern side of the airport, an area previously used by state-run aircraft manufacturer, PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI). Recently, PT DI handed the land over to the Air Force, which is the land’s owner.
According to the proposed plan, the terminal will be expanded to a size of 30,000 square meters. Instead of being able to only accommodate three departing and arriving flights per hour, the future expansion will enable the airport to serve up to seven departures and arrivals per hour. It will also help to boost the popularity of Bandung to international travellers. The city is increasingly seen as an excellent culinary and shopping destination in Southeast Asia, especially due to the presence of many factory outlet stores as Bandung is an important textile and shoes production centre.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
