Banjarmasin, S Kalimantan (Antara Bali) -- Vice President Jusuf Kalla expects more modern and efficient airports to be developed in Indonesia to provide better services to passengers.
"In the past, people built airports adopting local architectural and cultural elements. While these are important, they do not make them (airports) efficient," Vice President Jusuf Kalla said here during the ceremonial groundbreaking of the Syamsudin Noor International Airport on Monday.
Kalla added that the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng now provided less efficient services.
Passengers want to exit the airport immediately upon landing. So the design of the airport should accommodate this demand, he explained.
An airport should also have comfortable waiting areas and forms of entertainment such as food courts and shopping areas. "Most airports nowadays are built to resemble a mall to relieve the boredom of waiting passengers," he pointed out.
Furthermore, Minister of Transportation Ignasius Jonan noted that the Syamsudin Noor International Airport will be made 20 times wider.
The Syamsudin Noor International Airport, which is located in Banjarbaru, some 24 kilometers west of Banjarmasin, is being expanded from 6.6 thousand square meters to 125 thousand square meters.
Earlier, the airport served 1.3 million passengers annually, but last year, it received 3.7 million passengers. On completion of the expansion project, the airport will be able to serve 10 million passengers per year. (WDY)
