Airport in Yogya Reopened
Tuesday, 30 May, 2006 | 11:36 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The government reopened Adi Soetjipto Airport, Yogyakarta yesterday for commercial flights. The Minister of Transportation, Hatta Rajasa, said the notice has been issued. “Use of the facilities of the domestic terminal that collapsed were transferred to the international terminal,” said Hatta after attending a coordination meeting to handle the post-natural disaster at the Department of Finance, Jakarta.

Adi Soetjipto Airport was closed on Saturday after the earthquake caused some parts of the building to collapse. The quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale also was the source of four cracks on the runway. All commercial flights to Yogyakarta were transferred to Semarang and Solo. For two days, Adi Soecipto Airport could only be used for flights carrying aid for the quake victims.

Hatta explained, the Department of Transportation is still monitoring the possibility of new damage to the runway and the airport facilities due to aftershocks.
The quake that hit Yogyakarta and Central Java did not only ruin the facility of air transportation, but also the land infrastructure such as the railways. The damage is quite serious, for example, the rails sank and shifted and some railway stations were also destroyed.

According to Wendy Aritenang, the Secretary General of the Department of Transportation, a fund of Rp25 billion is required to repair the transportation infrastructure: Rp15 billion to rehabilitate Adi Soetjipto airport, and Rp10 billion to repair some railway stations, bridges, and the rails throughout Yogyakarta. “Repairs need four to six months,” he said.

Ahmad Muqowam, Head of the House of Representatives’ (DPR) Commission for Transportation, said the fund needed to repair the transportation infrastructure in Yogyakarta and its surroundings is quite large. That is why DPR will discuss this matter with the DPR Commission for the Budget. “We will discuss it in the meeting of the Revised State Budget,” he said.

After the quake, the passengers of aircraft heading to Yogyakarta kept increasing. Garuda Indonesia has added to the flight frequency of Jakarta-Yogyakarta. According to Emisyah Satar, Managing Director of Garuda Indonesia, under normal circumstances, Garuda only flies six times to Yogyakarta and three to Solo. “Yesterday, Garuda flew twelve times to Yogyakarta and Solo,” he said.

PT Merpati Airlines, another State-owned airline, does not charge flight costs to volunteers heading to Yogyakarta.

According to Hotasi Nababan, Merpati's Managing Director, every day Merpati will offer one flight for free. “This is valid for the next four or five days,” he said.

Agus Supriyanto and Rofiuddin