The air connectivity-themed roadshow held by the Ministry of Tourism has shown positive results. AirNav Indonesia, the state-owned company that manages air navigation services, announced that they plan to develop more Rapid Exit Taxiways (RET) at Ngurah Rai International Airport.
The General Manager of AirNav in Bali region, Maskon Humawan, told reporters that the RET will accommodate more airplanes in the airport and thus enable the Ministry’s goal to create two million more seats. “The RET will accommodate additional international flights,” said Humawan yesterday, as quoted by Bali Post. “Many have asked if we can build more RET infrastructures in Bali.”
RET is a connecting runway with a sharp angle that permits aircraft to exit at high speeds. “The RET is specifically designed so that airplanes can quickly exit the runway after they have landed at high speed, unlike now where they have to stop slowly” Humawan explained. Stopping slowly limits the movement of airplanes at the airport, which is why having more RET is necessary in order to cut down the time airplanes spend queuing for landing.
At the moment, there are two RETs that can cater for 27 airplanes movements in an hour, and with an additional taxiway, that number could increase to at least 30 airplanes per hour. Ngurah Rai Airport is already the busiest airport in Indonesia with the movement of 27 airplanes per hour, which means there is a plane landing or departing in almost every two minutes.
The RET addition is a priority for PT Angkasa Pura I, who is prepping for next year’s World Bank – IMF meeting that will surely create more air traffic. Meanwhile, the Minister for Tourism, Arief Yahya, is pleased with AirNav’s plan and stated that air connectivity is a critical success factor in developing access to Indonesia. “This is good and will provide more opportunity for foreign tourists to visit Indonesia,” said Yahya.
Photo: http://www.panoramio.com/
