President to Inaugurate Abd Saleh Airport in Malang

Malang, E Java - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to inaugurate Abdurachman Saleh airport in Malang district, East Java, in mid January 2012. Before being inaugurated, the airport, particularly its passenger terminal would have trial operation on Friday (Dec 30), Head of the East Java Provincial Transportation Office Wahid Wahyudi said here on Wednesday. After the airport had been inaugurated it would hopefully reduce passenger density at Juanda international airport in Surabaya, East Java, he said. "Now Juanda airport is very crowded due to tight frequency of planes landing at the airport, namely every 1 minute and 20 seconds, with the number of passengers reaching 12 million per year," he said. Therefore, he added that during the trial operation which would begin on Friday morning no significant problem would happen so that the airport could be inaugurated on schedule. "So far, some of the airport's facilities, such as road access and departure terminal have been built, while the construction of arrival terminal and runway to cover a length of 2,250 meters from 1,985 meters previously is still underway," he said. The Abdurachman Saleh airport was the only airport managed by provincial government and therefore, the transport ministry delegated the management of the airport to the provincial government, he said. (*)