REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALU -- The apron area of Mutiara Sis Al Jufri Airport in Central Sulawesi Province will be extended in 2016 to enable more aircraft to take off and land, the airport authority stated here on Tuesday.
Head of the Mutiara Sis Al Jufri Airport Benyamin Noach Alpituley noted while conversing with journalists here that the left and right sides of the apron area will be extended about 30 meters and 80 meters respectively from its existing width.
Investment worth Rp25 billion will be required for the realization of the apron area extension project, after which the airport will be able to accommodate six narrow-body aircraft at the same time, he remarked.
Benyamin noted that the plan to extend the apron area took shape following the scheduled opening of the Jakarta-Palu or Palu-Surabaya direct flights of airlines such as Batik Air and Citilink, despite the unavailability of time slots at crowded airports such as Soekarno-Hatta and Juanda.
With the passenger terminal, which can accommodate 1.5 thousand people, the airport currently serves the flights of 12 aircraft a day, including Lion Air, Garuda Indonesia, Sriwijaya Air, Wings Air, and Avia Star, he revealed.
In the year 2035, the airport's runway would also be extended from 2,360 meters to three thousand meters, so that wide-body aircraft such as Boeing 777s could land and take off, he added.