Lion Air (JT, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) parent, Lion Group, will reportedly assume control of Jakarta's second airport, Jakarta Halim, with plans to invest over IDR5trillion (USD436million) into its refurbishment and upgrading.

The Director of General Affairs at PT Lion Airlines, Edward Sirait, told The Jakarta Post late last week that together with the TNI-AU Tentara Nasional Indonesia-Angkatan Udara (Jakarta Halim) cooperative, Inkopau, Lion Group has enlisted the state-backed construction company PT Adhi Karya to carry out the works, scheduled to begin later next month.

The Lion Group and Inkopau formed an 80/20 joint venture in 2004 in which Lion Group will develop the 21-hectare plot of land, owned by Inkopau, that Halim is built on. In 2006, Lion Group subsidiary, PT Angkasa Transportindo Selaras (ATS), was awarded a 25-year concession to operate the airport, which is currently under the control of PT Angkasa Pura II.

“We are here with PT Adhi Karya to announce our plan to develop Halim Perdanakusuma Airport and its facilities, including the taxi ways, aprons and garbarata [airbridges],” Edward said. “The development is aimed at increasing the capacity of the airport, as well as at improving facilities for the passengers.”

With the long term aim of developing the airport into an international facility, Lion Air intends to upgrade the airport's sole passenger terminal to 100'000 square meters thereby allowing it to handle over 12million passengers per annum. In addition, there are plans to build a monorail connecting Halim Airport with Dukuh Atas Station in downtown Jakarta.

Halim Perdanakusuma Airport is a single runway facility situated roughly 10km southeast of central Jakarta. Until the opening of Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta in 1985, the airport had served as Jakarta's primary international gateway. In the 1990s, Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation mandated that Halim only serve non-scheduled passenger and cargo flights as well as small turboprops operating under air taxi regulations.

However, with Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta reaching its maximum capacity, government reopened Halim to large commercial operators early this year offering 60 flight slots per hour for scheduled domestic flights. Though Lion Air and Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) were offered slots at the airport, neither took the offer up leaving Citilink (QG, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) as the only scheduled mainline operator there. Halim was also re-opened to seasonal Hajj charter flights in 2013.