Jakarta (ANTARA) - President Joko Widodo emphasized that the recently established Trunojoyo Airport in Sumened District, East Java, should immediately facilitate flight service from Jakarta to serve the public during the 2022 Eid exodus.
"I urge for this since it is nearing Eid. I urge the Transportation Ministry to (arrange or facilitate) flight from Surabaya to Sumenep or Jakarta to Sumenep," the president stated during the officiation of Trunojoyo Airpor on Wednesday.
President Jokowi remarked that Trunojoyo Airport was built to cater to the transportation needs of people of Madura and the surrounding areas' residents, so that their choices were not limited to just ships.
Currently, Trunojoyo Airport served four routes: Sumenep-Surabaya, Sumenep-Bawen, Sumenep-Pagerungan, and Sumenep-Banyuwangi.
The president was confident that circa Eid, the flight routes' expansion of Jakarta, Surabaya to Sumenep could benefit many people.
"Thus, we try (to gauge) the (interest), and see if there are many passengers or not. I think there will be many (passengers), God willing, there will be many," he stated.
On the same occasion, Head of the Sumenep Trunojoyo Airport, M. Arqodri Arman, remarked that commercial flights were still operated although they were discontinued at the start of the pandemic.
He expected that Trunojoyo Airport, with infrastructure including 1,600 meters of runway and 3,600 meters of the terminal building, will be able to facilitate more commercial routes in the future.
Arman believed that they could incorporate more commercial routes, with potential prospective passengers, in their services as soon as possible. Some of the commercial routes that they were contemplating on adding to their list were Sumenep-Jakarta, Sumenep-Denpasar, and Sumenep-Banjarmasin, he revealed.
Earlier, President Joko Widodo noted that some 85 million people were partaking in the Eid exodus this year. There would be 14 million people from the greater Jakarta area, he added. (*)
