INDONESIA's Kertajati International Airport, the country's second largest airport that opened in May 2018 at cost of US$153 million, has a 'golden opportunity' to become a major cargo hub, according to Indonesian logistics advisor Valkyn Dmello.
Located 170 kilometres from Jakarta, near Bandung in west Java, Kertajati airport was designed to handle passenger flights, however, the airport's utilisation is only at 20 per cent, local media reports.
'The airports in Jakarta are very congested,' Mr Dmello told London's Loadstar. 'But with 1,200 hectares of land and a three-kilometre runway that can be extended, Kertajati has the capacity for 50 years of growth.'
Indonesia's air cargo volumes grew by double-digits in 2018 to stand at 1.12 million tons, and similar growth is anticipated for this year on the back of the booming trade in e-commerce.
Congestion at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which handles the lions' share of cargo traffic, drove plans for a new 148,000-square-metre air cargo village at the airport.
The project's progress has been slow, however, Mr Dmello said, and suggested Kertajati could be a perfect solution, given the airport has the space and is already operational. He is collaborating with the local government and multiple stakeholders to establish a task force to get the project going.
'There's a lot of excitement because of the space available and the fact that the airport is already operating but only managing around 60 flights a week,' he noted.
'Kertajati is under-used because they built it before access roads for passengers were good enough. So passengers complain. But cargo doesn't complain - as long as it's efficient.'
'Hyderabad is a small city in India, but right now it's number one in its category for 10 million passengers and it's a cargo hub with all the major carriers there. It's also home to the largest Amazon distribution centre outside the US. So if they can do it, we can,' he said.
Since Kertajati is in Indonesia's most populated province, it's ideally located for e-commerce cargo, Mr Dmello noted.
'One of Indonesia's big e-commerce firms has large activity there due to high percentage of small enterprise activity around west Java, and says there's a lot of small and medium sellers on its platform that would find Kertajati a better export hub than Jakarta.'
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Located 170 kilometres from Jakarta, near Bandung in west Java, Kertajati airport was designed to handle passenger flights, however, the airport's utilisation is only at 20 per cent, local media reports.
'The airports in Jakarta are very congested,' Mr Dmello told London's Loadstar. 'But with 1,200 hectares of land and a three-kilometre runway that can be extended, Kertajati has the capacity for 50 years of growth.'
Indonesia's air cargo volumes grew by double-digits in 2018 to stand at 1.12 million tons, and similar growth is anticipated for this year on the back of the booming trade in e-commerce.
Congestion at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which handles the lions' share of cargo traffic, drove plans for a new 148,000-square-metre air cargo village at the airport.
The project's progress has been slow, however, Mr Dmello said, and suggested Kertajati could be a perfect solution, given the airport has the space and is already operational. He is collaborating with the local government and multiple stakeholders to establish a task force to get the project going.
'There's a lot of excitement because of the space available and the fact that the airport is already operating but only managing around 60 flights a week,' he noted.
'Kertajati is under-used because they built it before access roads for passengers were good enough. So passengers complain. But cargo doesn't complain - as long as it's efficient.'
'Hyderabad is a small city in India, but right now it's number one in its category for 10 million passengers and it's a cargo hub with all the major carriers there. It's also home to the largest Amazon distribution centre outside the US. So if they can do it, we can,' he said.
Since Kertajati is in Indonesia's most populated province, it's ideally located for e-commerce cargo, Mr Dmello noted.
'One of Indonesia's big e-commerce firms has large activity there due to high percentage of small enterprise activity around west Java, and says there's a lot of small and medium sellers on its platform that would find Kertajati a better export hub than Jakarta.'
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