Aji Pangeran Tumenggung Pranoto International Airport
Aji Pangeran Tumenggung Pranoto International Airport or APT Pranoto Airport, is the main airport in Samarinda, the capital city ofEast Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is in the district of Sungai Siring. The airport is also colloquially known as Sungai Siring Airport, to distinguish it from its predecessor, the now-closed Temindung Airport. The airport is named after Aji Pangeran Tumenggung Pranoto, the first governor of East Kalimantan who was in office from 1957 to 1961. The airport started commercial operation on 24 May 2018, replacing the Temindung Airport. The airport is operated by UPBU Kelas II APT Pranoto, Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Transportation.
History
Sungai Siring Airport was designed as a replacement for the former Samarinda Airport originally built in 1973. Located in the densely built-up Sei Pinang District with a single runway extending into settlements, Temindung had only limited room for expansion to cope with steadily increasing air traffic. By the 2000s, Temindung had become one of Kaltim's busiest airports – it far exceeded its annual passenger and cargo design capacities. One out of every 25 flights experienced delays, largely due to lack of space for aircraft, gates, and runway. A 1992 planning study by Civil Aviation and Public Works departments identified the district of Sungai Siring, as a possible airport replacement site. Away from the congested city centre, flight paths would be routed over North Samarinda rather than populous urban areas, enabling efficient round-the-clock operation of multiple runways. The Sungai Siring airport master plan was completed in 1995. In 1998, however, the government shelved the project for financial and economic reasons. The Airport Location Study was undertaken by Indonesian consultants. This study came up with four recommended locations for overall strategic development in Samarinda. One of the four assumed a new airport at Makroman; a second assumed a new airport at Palaran; the third assumed a new airport at Sungai Siring; and the fourth assumed a new airport at Bayur. In November 2003 the Governor of Kaltim announced that a decision had been made on the Airport Location Study. The strategy was a replacement airport at Sungai Siring. The consultants advised that the earliest the airport could be opened was June 2009. However, in reaching the government's decision, this date was modified to December 2007. Construction of the new airport began in 2005. The construction period was very slow; specialists considered only 2–3-year period was sufficient for this aviation project. There was uncertain future of the airport construction after Panitia Pengadaan BSB manipulated the nomination of PT NCR as the contractor. It was originally believed that BPKP preferred to keep everything investigated and minimise financial commitments for the project temporarily, therefore stopping all construction. In practice, the airport did not finish in time for the investigation. However, Kaltim gave an additional year's deadline. Construction of the new airport was only part of the MP3EI Master Plan, which also involved construction of new road and rail links to the airport. The detailed design for the airport terminal was awarded to a consortium led by Waskita Karya with Airmas Asri as specialist designers for airport related aspects. Project architects were PT Waskita Karya. The airport was officially opened in an opening ceremony by President of IndonesiaJoko Widodo and Governor Awang Faroek on 24 May 2018, concluding the twelve-year construction that cost US$0.4 billion.
Facilities
The airport covers an area of. The airport has 4 boarding gates, with four jet bridge gates. All jet bridges are capable of handling the Airbus A320. The airport has one runway, which is in length and wide. The runway is planned to be lengthened to 3,000 m in the future to accommodate wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A330, Boeing 747, Boeing 767, and Boeing 777. The airport has a total capacity of 1.5 million passengers annually and terminal has an area of.
