All of us forced to fly in and out of Jakarta’s sub-par airport have been eagerly looking forward to the opening of the newly constructed Terminal 3 (which used to be called “Terminal 3 Ultimate”, but had its name changed to just Terminal 3 for reasons which apparently don’t take into account how incredibly confusing that will be since there’s already the older Terminal 3).
After first claiming that the new terminal would be operational by late June, airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II had to push back the official opening by several weeks after it failed to meet certain operating standards.
Well it looks like all of those standards have now been met (hopefully) as Angkasa Pura II announced yesterday that the new Terminal 3 will begin operations next Tuesday on August 9.
However, you’ll only be able to check out the brand new terminal if you happen to be flying domestic on Indonesia’s state carrier.
Angkasa Pura II spokesperson Agus Haryadi said in a statement picked up by the media yesterday, “At the initial stage, the only airline using Terminal 3 will be Garuda Indonesia.”
However, Garuda’s vice president of corporate communications Benny S. Butarbutar, said the airline’s flights will gradually all be moved to Terminal 3. “We’re starting with domestic service, but in the future all Garuda flights will be served through Terminal 3,” he said yesterday as quoted by Tempo.
Terminal 3 is touted as having the capacity to handle 25 million passengers per year, so we really hope that it begins operations soon and smoothly because the rest of Soetta’s overworked terminals, and harried travelers, could really use some relief.
