Indonesia to build 39 new airports; some opportunity for private sector collaboration

Indonesia is quite well endowed with airports. It has to be; it is the world's largest archipelago.

But some areas are still missing out, so another 39 will be built. Unlike some other countries that have featured in CAPA - Centre for Aviation reports recently, the objective is not so much to help develop tourism. Rather, it is to facilitate travel to and from these remote regions and to develop them economically.

If that means more tourists, fine, but there is little chance of that, at least in the immediate future.

The question is; how will they be financed?

They may or may not come within the remit of 'InJourney Airports', the vehicle which merged the two state operators, PT Angkasa Pura I and PT Angkasa Pura II, in 2024.

More likely, they will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation, which looks after all but 37 of the airports that are managed by InJourney Airports.

There has been much talk over a long period of time about privatising Angkasa Pura I and II but that has not happened and probably never will.

However, at an individual airport level, there has been a little concession activity such as at the Batam and Dhoho airports.

Several other countries have worked to couple the busiest airports with the least busy within a package in order to attract investors. If Indonesia does want to increase its exposure to the private sector that might be the way forward, but unlike those countries there are no existing examples to investigate.