The Transportation Ministry recently agreed to increase the maximum from 49 percent to 67 percent, following the government’s move to completely open several business sectors for foreign investment.

State-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP) I stated that it was ready for a partnership with foreign players but was currently awaiting details of the regulation.

“We have signed several memorandums of understanding (MoU) over the years but we need the Transportation Ministry to provide the detailed regulation before we move forward,” AP I corporate secretary Farid Indra Nugraha said recently.

Farid said that Angkasa Pura I had signed an MoU with Indian leading conglomerate GVK Group in January 2011 for the development of an airport in Kulonprogo in Yogyakarta. Construction of the Kulonprogo airport was intended to commence in 2014, but it has been delayed until this year due to land acquisition problems.

The government aims to start building the airport sometime this year and open it by 2019.

“Now we’re trying to prepare technical aspects for international bidding for the Kulonprogo airport,” he said.

He said Angkasa Pura I felt positive about the future partnership because it had also inked a cooperation with GVK group for the maintenance of the non-aeronautical commercial operation of Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. That agreement, signed in 2013, has been deemed fruitful.

“The sales volume from 3 years ago has now risen 300 percent,” Farid added.

He also said that the transfer of knowledge and systems was another benefit of foreign partnerships.

GVK itself is the main operator of India’s two busiest airports: Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai and Bengaluru International Airport in Bangalore.

Farid also mentioned ongoing discussions about partnering with Japan for the operation of Lombok International Airport, West Nusa Tenggara, with the Japanese counterpart currently doing a feasibility study.

The next step would be to draft the joint venture proposal, he said.

Japan has also previously expressed its intention to invest US$200 million in the building of a new terminal at Lombok airport.

Farid said Angkasa Pura I would seek a possible partnership to run the firm’s Frans Kaisiepo Airport in Biak, Papua and El Tari Airport in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.

“They have great potential, with marine tourism in Kupang too. We want to try to increase the airports’ capacity and improve their facility,” he said.

Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan has previously agreed to open the country’s transportation sector for more foreign investment, in a bid to boost the country’s logistics performance.

The move was part of the revision of Presidential Regulation No. 39/2014 on the negative investment list completed this year.

However, Jonan also insisted that the increase in the percentage only applied to the management and not the ownership of airports.

Meanwhile, fellow state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II president director Budi Karya Sumadi said possible cooperations would be sought for the management of the Soekarno Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and Kualanamu International Airport in Medan.

“The cooperation with foreign partners will be done part by part,” he said, while adding that the Soekarno Hatta International Airport’s upcoming new Terminal 3 Ultimate would in fact be operated in partnership with South Korean Incheon Airport Corporation.