BIAK - After temporarily closing down its operations, due to the 1998 economic crisis, the Frans Kaisiepo International Airport in Biak District, Papua, will finally be re-opened to serve international flights. The Head of Transportation Services of Papua, Yusuf Yambi Yabdi, accompanied by the Head of Air Transportation, Nasaput Itlay, announced this news to journalists in Jayapura.
Facilitating this plan, his institution has recently met with the Head of Angkasa Pura Airports Biak. "Furthermore, we have met with the Local Government (Pemda) of Biak Numfor in settling the land issue for Frans Kaisiepo Airport, Biak," he said.
Continuing his explanation, he added that in 1996-1998, Garuda once served the route from Jakarta-Denpasar- Biak-Honolulu to Los Angeles and return. However, due to the economic crisis, this route –crossing the Pacific Ocean- was terminated. Since then, the operations of this airport had been closed.
Actually, according to Yusuf, the Biak Airport has a unique construction built on limestone / coral stones that makes it very solid. The length of the runaway allows for Boeing 747 of 400 and Airbus aircrafts to land there. This airport is the fourth longest runway of the five longest airports in Indonesia, with a length of 3,570 meter. The length of the runway of this airport exceeds the length of the runway of Hasanuddin Makassar Airport (3,100 meter).
"We will also re-open the tourism routes: Biak-Thailand- Japan- China and South Korea, Biak- Australia will be another possibility. We will discuss these routes with the operators," he said. Having various route options, the management needs to convince the operators that the air traffic in will not disrupt the other flight schedules. In the past, there was only one flight to Honolulu.
Discussions with operators such as PT Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, and AirAsia have already been initiated, Yusuf added. There are always many possibilities for other airlines to discuss about this together in the future. "We hope that we can make agreements with several other airlines so that international flights can be available, that is in line with the vision and mission of the governor," Yusuf said. He expects, by serving the international flights, besides promoting tourism in Papua, it will also enhance the number of visitors to Papua.†(Pardika Dewi RS/Source: Sinar Harapan)
