KULON PROGO - Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA) in Kulon Progo is fully operational on Sunday, March 29, 2020, with most of the commercial jet flights at Adisutjipto International Airport (JOG) transferred to YIA.
The first day of YIA’s operation went smoothly. The first flight was done by Batik Air ID 6371 at 06.10 local time to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta. While the first arrival scheduled was Lion Air JT 544 at 06:05 local time from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
"We express our deepest gratitude to all stakeholders, both from all levels of the Ministries involved such as Ministry of SOEs, Ministry of Transportation and Coordinating Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investments, Prosecutor's Office, local administrations, community institutions, professionals, academics, and others, who have helped the completion of YIA, from the process of land acquisition, quick development, the verification process, simulation, minimum operation to full operation are carried out according to schedule," said Angkasa Pura Airports president director Faik Fahmi.
By fully operating YIA, there are 130 domestic flight and eight international flight schedules transferred from Adisutjipto International Airport flight, bringing a total of 168 flights operate in YIA. However, there are 53 flight cancellation requests from airlines due to the Covid-19 pandemic, leaving only 115 domestic flights at YIA. For the international flights, there is a temporary suspension of operations from the airline until May 11 to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Meanwhile, at Adisutjipto International Airport, there are additional flights with propeller aircraft to a total of 59 flights from 29 flights with routes to and from Bandung of 19 flights (Citilink, Wings Air, Nam Air, and Trans Nusa), Jakarta-Halim Perdanakusuma of 10 flights (Citilink), Malang of four flights (Citilink and Trans Nusa), and Surabaya of 26 flights (Wings Air, Citilink and Trans Nusa).
With YIA in full operation, starting March 29, 2020, it will operate for 24 hours and will serve:
Meanwhile, the operational time of Adisucipto International Airport (JOG), will be changed from 05:00 - 21:00 local time to 05:00 - 18:00 local time, and will only serve:
- Domestic and unscheduled Commercial Flights for Propeller Type Aircraft,
- Domestic Non-Commercial Flights (Charter),
- Non-Commercial Flights (Charter) Overseas (VIP and VVIP).
The full operation of YIA is an important milestone for Angkasa Pura Airports considering the condition of Adisucipto International Airport, which has experienced a lack of capacity (eight million passengers with a capacity of only 1.8 million per year).
Flights Operation Transfer Pays Attention on the Covid-19 Spread Prevention Protocol
The transfer of all flights to YIA in the midst of the current situation is also a mitigation effort to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission with a lot of passengers and limited space to implement the concept of physical distancing properly at Adisutjipto International Airport. YIA's full operation was also carried out without ceremonial activities, and the press conference was only held virtually last Saturday, March 28 to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission.
The prevention of the spread of Covid-19 is a major concern, hence, in preparing the full operation of YIA, some following measures are taken, including:
In addition, we also attempt to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as long as YIA operates on a limited basis, such as:
Fastest Airport Development
Since the land acquisition process was completed and the construction process began in July 2018, YIA only needs 20 months until full operation as the construction work has been 100 percent completed by the end of March 2020. In fact, YIA has started to operate on a limited basis in May 2019. It makes the construction of YIA the fastest airport development in Indonesia.
It received appreciation from President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo of which he stated the construction of YIA was the fastest with the best quality. In addition, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia Ma'ruf Amin also appreciated the grandeur and design of YIA which adopt and represent local wisdom, marked by ornamentation, design and installation of artwork using the names of villages in Kulon Progo and other local wisdom in Yogyakarta.
YIA Support Services and Facilities
During its limited operation on May 6 2019 to February 2020, YIA has served more than 336,823 passengers and saw 3,843 aircraft movements with 13 domestic routes, namely Denpasar, Banjarmasin, Palembang, Jakarta (HLP & CGK), Palangka Raya, Batam, Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Tarakan, Pontianak, Makassar and Kualanamu.
YIA’s full operation has been supported by adequate public or multimodal transportation. DAMRI and SatelQu shuttle buses, with many pickup points at Adisucipto International Airport and YIA, have a headway of 30 minutes as well as airport train from Tugu Station departing every hour. Regular and online taxis are available for passengers.
YIA is one of the airports with the best runway qualifications in Indonesia with length of 3,250 cm x 45 m and Pavement Classification Number (PCN) 107 so that it can be landed by the largest and heaviest aircraft (A380 and Boeing 777-300ER). The passenger terminal of 219,000 square meters can accommodate 20 million passengers per year, 11 times larger than Adisutjipto International Airport, which only has capacity 1.8 million passengers per year. It also has 22 parking stands, 10 avio bridges and a cargo terminal with a capacity of 500 tons/day.
YIA is also designed to have natural disaster management systems such as anti-earthquake terminal buildings which can withstand up to 8.8 Richter scale and tsunami of up to 12 meters.
The airport's architecture is modern but the exterior and interior still depict the culture of Yogyakarta, both through the installation of artworks involving local artists from Yogyakarta as well as artworks of other regions that have been specifically designed to be the “storefront” of Yogyakarta, Kulon Progo and surrounding areas.
Yogyakarta is famous as a cultural center. Therefore, Angkasa Pura Airports is committed to providing creative space for Yogyakarta artists to help explore the great potential to get recognition internationally. At the airport, a special spot for the biggest micro, small and medium enterprises (UMKM) in Indonesia will also be opened, such as Kota Gede Market which will sell UMKM goods from Yogyakarta and surrounding areas. In addition, Angkasa Pura Airports has a unique service concept of Yogyakarta which will certainly be felt through all five senses of the passengers in order to provide a unique experience for all passengers.
"Angkasa Pura Airports will not only focus on being an airport operator, but in accordance with our vision and mission "Connecting the World Beyond Airport Operator with Indonesian Experience”, one of our strategies is to help build destinations, especially in the airports where we operate," Faik added.
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