All about Kuala Namu International Airport

Medanese? Traveller? You must be so curious about this new airport already. Even people abroad also curious. Today, let's take a look at this. We would like to give some details about the new airport (in process) in Medan, North Sumatra. Here we go, fivers! All in Blog repost to you!

Kuala Namu International Airport (KNIA) (IATA: KNO) is a newly-constructed international airport located in Kuala Namu, Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, Indonesia that will soon replace Polonia International Airport. The airport was a former oil palm plantation of PT. Perkebunan Nusantara II Tanjung Morawa. When opened, the airport is expected to become the new international transit center in Sumatra and the western part of Indonesia. It is part of Indonesia's central government's program under Masterplan to Accelerate and Expand Economic Development in Indonesia (MP3EI) and one of the strategies for the ASEAN Single Aviation Market (ASEAN-SAM), an open skies policy among member-countries in the Southeast Asia region starting 2015.

History
One of jetbridges installed in the tarmac
Polonia airport is the site of several crashes, is inappropriately located in the center of the city of Medan, has a difficult takeoff path and has a short runway. The transfer to Kuala Namu Airport has been planned since 1991. In a visit to Medan, Azwar Anas, Minister of Transport at the time, said that for the safety of the flight, the airport will be moved out of the city.

All preparation of construction begins in 1997, but due to the Asian Financial Crisis that began in the same year and then force development plans postponed. Since then the news about the airport is rarely heard from again, until a new momentum during the Mandala Airlines Flight 091 crash in September 2005 that crashed shortly after taking off from Polonia. The accident that taken the lives of North Sumatra Governor Tengku Rizal Nurdin also caused some residents who live around the airport area died, because its location is too close to residential areas. This led to calls for the re-emergence of the airport in Medan soon moved to a more appropriate place. In addition, Polonia has suffers overcrowding that handle too much passengers is one of the government concern to move the airport.

All 1,365 hectares land acquisitions have been done between 1995 to 1997 and has a certificate with Exploitation Right (Hak Pengelolaaan) Number-1 on November 29, 1999 and a 100 percent belongs to PT Angkasa Pura II. Between end of 1999 and 2006 some illegal people used a part of the land as agriculture land and PT Angkasa Pura II has offered some money to them to move. Construction resumed on June 29, 2006, shortly before the first anniversary of the crash of Mandala Airlines Flight 091. Jusuf Kalla, vice President at the time, laid his first foundation stone. These marked the construction of Kuala Namu after several years with no progress. He was later predict that the airport will completed by 2010. But because land acquisition was the biggest hurdle over this project, later on the airport was expected to be completed by 2013 due to lack of local government awareness.

Future plans
The airport will be Indonesia's second largest, after Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, with 224,298 m² passengers terminal and will eventually have a capacity of 50 million passengers (2030), a figure if realised today would place the airport in the top 10 busiest by passenger numbers in the world, although by the time this figure is achieved it is likely that there will be many airports carrying more passengers.

It will have 3,750 x 60 m runway, also another two parallel taxi-way 3,750 m and 2,000 m (each with wide 30 m) that can accommodate wide-body aircraft, including the Airbus A380. Apron area with 664 m² that can handle 33 fleets. It also have 13,000 m² cargo area that can handle 3 carriers with 65,000 tonnes/annum and 50,820 m² parking capacity with 405 taxis, 55 busses, and 908 cars. For more accessibility, the airport will have 10 door gates, another highway (non-toll road), toll road, and non-stop rail link to Medan.

Spread on 1,365 ha land area, 20 km North East of Polonia airport, 3 km from the sea, and on a site of area 6,5 x 2,1 km. Phase 1 (2010) of the new airport plans for a capacity to serve 9 million passengers annually and predicted to operate the airport by the end of 2012. By Phase 2 (2017), the airport would be servicing 16 million passengers, 4,5 million international, and 2,63 million international transit passengers.

It has been predicted all of the land will be cleared before end of 2012 when 'shadow operation' begins. The other problems are runway construction which has schedule to finish 18 months after the project started on January 2011, infrastructure building and power generator installment. The airport will cost at least $4,4 billion, using the August 2007 exchange rate.

Operations
Airside facilities would be controlled by the Indonesian government, while landside facilities would be owned by a joint venture with PT Angkasa Pura II, which is expected to provide $350 million as an initial investment in return for a 30-year lease, after which ownership would revert to PT Angkasa Pura II. The airport will be linked to the city of Medan by a $10,7 million railway project. A highway about 18 km also being planned to connect the airport to Medan. It will cost $1,5 billions and eventually have 4 interchanges, 4 underpasses, 7 topperpasses, and 3 toll gates.

The airport will be the first in Indonesia with a publicly accessible check-in area (current Indonesian airports restrict access to ticket holders with security at the gate). This means a much larger and more spacious check-in area than the existing airport. The airport is being designed by Wiratman & Associates, who also designed several other new airports and office buildings in Indonesia. Computer renderings showing a T-shape design are on the company's website. Another rendering and masterplan can be found in Angkasa Pura II website. Also a visualization of the future airport video.

Progress
At the end of May 2011, land construction for the runway was only 10 percent completed but was stopped due to local supplier difficulties to supply sand and landfill. The contractor will propose an excavation license through Deli Serdang regional development to avoid dependencies on local supplier. The runway construction might be finished after 2012, since the site was paddy field and swamp area.At the end of November 2011, 70 percent of Airport project has been finished and predited will be finished at end of 2012 including a highway (non-toll road) and a railway trackage, while toll road will be finished later.

In early 2013, overall progress has reached 95%. On January 10, 2013 the airport start technical and navigation system test and slated to fully commence operations in August to replace the 70-years-old Polonia Airport.

Ground transportation
A state-owned bus company DAMRI will eventually expand its new routes since the airport has been operated. Meanwhile, an inner-city bus Trans Medan also being planned to carry more flexibility.

Airport rail link
Design and feasibility study of Airport Railway which will connect Airport and Medan has been done and the fund worth more than $5,5 million has available. Physical construction will be done in early 2012 and predicted to complete at end of 2012. It will be the first integrated Airport rail link in Indonesia, city check-in and electronic tickets are also available for convinience.

Regional hub
Kuala Namu International Airport is plotted to be a Regional Hub as South Korea's Incheon International Airport as sister airport, so on June 25, 2012 an agreement has been signed of both party operators. Incheon operator will assist Kuala Namu operator to become Regional Hub with world-class standards.

Source: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Namu_International_Airport
Reposted by: barabere on fivegrades.blogspot.com

That's it, fivers! What do you think? Do you become more curious and can't wait for the operation? It was said that Polonia International Airport will soon be replaced by Kuala Namu International Airport at about 25th July 2013. I decided to repost about this because this has been an issue in our daily recently. I think, the tourists who really want to visit North Sumatra will also be curious about this, right? ^^ So, I hope this info will help you guys. Just share us if you get to give info about this. Thanks for viewing here at All in One Blog. ^^