INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk will develop Ngurah Rai Airport in Denpasar, Bali, to become one of the company's main cargo flight hubs.

President Director of Garuda Indonesia Pahala Mansury in the inauguration of the cooperation to increase the benefits of Garuda Indonesia Citi Card at Terminal 3 of Soekarno Hatta Airport Tangerang, said that the development of Denpasar as a hub is expected to boost the cargo increase by 13-15% in 2018.

"Now this cargo is about 8% of our income, our aspiration is how we can boost our 13-15% cargo contribution from Garuda Indonesia's total revenue," he said.

Pahala explained that despite hoping for an increase in cargo through Denpasar, he admitted there are still obstacles faced, especially the limited facilities at Ngurah Rai Airport.

"There is a limitation of warehousing facilities, 'cold storage' (storage refrigerator) that is there.T hat makes a 'bottleneck' for us to develop this cargo business," he said.

Therefore, Pahala revealed that his side with PT Angkasa Pura I (Persero) as airport manager and a subsidiary of PT Gapura Angkasa are trying to develop facilities at Ngurah Rai Airport in order to carry more cargo loads.

In particular, he added, goods from eastern Indonesia to international destinations. Furthermore, the increase in the cargo business is also expected to be encouraged from the development of routes by the company.

"We hope that this year our target for cargo can grow to 15%," he said. (ant)