Air Traffic Control Merger to Hit Angkasa Pura II Profit

 

The director of consumer business at Bank Rakyat Indonesia Soetirto Toni (left) meets with Wahid Honre Maulidin, director of marketing and operations at state-owned air traffic controller Angkasa Pura at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Thursday.

 (Antara Photo) 

State airport operator Angkasa Pura II expects its profit to drop Rp 120 billion ($13.2 million) this year in light of a government plan to take over its air traffic control business, a top executive said on Thursday.

A 2009 aviation law requires the country’s air traffic control services to fall under a single manager. Later this year, the government plans to merge Angkasa Pura II’s air traffic service with those of other operators by putting them under the management of a new general corporation, the Indonesian Flight Navigation Service (PPNPI).

The government’s move will cut into Angkasa Pura II’s profit, said Tri Suriadjie Sunoko, the operator’s president director.

“Currently, our air traffic service generates Rp 470 billion in revenue a year and costs us Rp 350 billion, so our potential loss is Rp 120 billion,” he said.

Angkasa Pura II, which operates 12 airports including Soekarno-Hatta International Airport near Jakarta, earned Rp 3.5 trillion in revenue last year. That was a 12 percent jump from 2010, with 70 percent of its revenue from non-aeronautical services such as shopping counters in airports.

The operator’s profit shrank to Rp 1 trillion last year, down 3.7 percent on 2010, because of the additional costs incurred to revamp its airports, Tri said.

He said Angkasa Pura II hopes to boost its revenue from non-aeronautical services to compensate for losing its air traffic control service. Its revenue target this year is Rp 3.96 trillion and its profit target is Rp 1.21 trillion.

Herry Bakti Singayuda Gumay, the director general of air transport at the Transportation Ministry, said the new air traffic controller will start operating this year, as it is just waiting on a presidential regulation.

He declined to give an exact time frame but said: “We hope the regulation will be signed by the president shortly.”

Since most of the nation’s air traffic control services currently fall under state-owned airport operators or the Transportation Ministry, the transition time will take a year at most, he added.

PPNPI will be a for-profit state institution that depends on public financing for its day-to-day operations.

Source:  http://www.thejakartaglobe.com