Terminal 3 of Soekarno Hatta Airport on stream next month

The third terminal of the Soekarno Hatta International Airport is to be operational in mid August. 

"Terminal 3 would be verified God willing in the second week of of August to coincide with the National Day commemoration," Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said in a news conference here on Thursday. 

Air Transport Director General Suprasetyo said his office is ready for the official commissioning earlier as scheduled on Sept. 9.

"But it depends on the president. We are ready if the official commission is to take place in early or in mid August," he said. 

The commissioning ceremony will include over all domestic routes of the nations flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, he said.

Corporate secretary of port operator PT Angkasa Pura II Agus Haryadi said the state company will seek to meet all standards of safety, security and services set by the regulator. 

"We have discussed this matter at meetings with the transport ministry on 9 August 2016," he said. 

He said actually President Joko Widodo wanted the terminal to be operational before Idulfitri earlier this month , but it was not yet ready in safety, security and service aspects.

The ministry, therefore, announced that operation of the terminal was postponed. 

Chief spokesman of the Transport Ministry Hemi Pamurahardjo linked the postponement of the operation of the terminal to a number of factor including psychological aspect. 

The government did not want to take risk when it was set to bring to reality Idul Fitri days with zero accident, he said. 

In addition there was political technical factor with the government set to improve its aviation reputation after sinking low marked with the ban on Indonesian airlines to fly to Europe by the European Commission in 2007.

"Currently we are endeavoring hard to pass through to Category I of FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)," he said. 

He said hard work has produced good result with ICAO giving a good value of 94.5. 
"We dont want Garuda Indonesia , as the only airline which is allied to global Sky Team, has its reputation falling again only because of a mistake in the operation of the third terminal," he said. (Antara)