Banjarmasin, S Kalimatan (ANTARA) - South Kalimantan Governor H Muhidin has met the Ministry of Transportation's Directorate General of Air Transportation to discuss runway extension of Syamsudin Noor Banjarmasin Internasional Airport in Banjarbaru.
"We discuss about runway extension in South Kalimantan in the meeting,” said the Governor here on Thursday.
The Governor, provincial government officials, and Kotabaru regional head was received by the ministry's director general of air transportation, Lukman F. Laisa in Jakarta.
The meeting also presented the development plan for Gusti Syamsir Alam Kotabaru Airport to the Director General.
Muhidin said Syamsudin Noor after it regained international airport status it facilities need to be extended, including length and width of the runway for wide-body aircraft.
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Syamsuddin Noor has a runway of 2,500 meters x 45 m and according to Airport Master Plan it will be added by 500 m with an estimated cost of Rp356 billion.
With the additional 500 m, he said, Syamsuddin Noor will have a 3,000 m runway, allowing large aircraft such as Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 to land and take off.
The Governor said they also discussed Banjarmasin-Malaysia flights in November 2025, and direct flight to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
Head of South Kalimantan Transportation Agency M Fitri Hernadi said that funding constraints for the runway extension were agreed upon to first look the passengers growth, including a strategy for hardening Pavement Classification Number Runway (PCN Runway) to increase aircraft load capacity.
“As internasional flights increase, more airlines will naturally use Syamsudin Noor Airport, making it more feasible to extend the runway,” he said.
Fitri said that AirAsia's planned inaugural flight Banjarmasin-Malaysia, originally scheduled for October 20, 2025 has been moved up to September 22. Then, Garuda Indonesia scheduled two flights a week to Jeddah with a technical landing in Hyderabad, India, using a 365-passenger aircraft on last week of October.
“Lucky Air is preparing to serve flight from Syamsudin Noor to Guangzhou, China, estimated to start in October or November 2025,” he said.
With international flights operating through Syamsudin Noor Airport, the 24 months evaluation, as stipulated in Miniter of Transportation's Decree No. 30 of 2025 regarding Syamsudin Noor Airport's international status is no longer necessary, and it will remain with Syamsudin Noor.
Syamsudin Noor Airport has an annual passenger traffic of approximately 3.5 million with increasingly complete terminal facilities and sufficient capacity to serve 7-9 million passengers per year.
According to budget procedure for runway extension established by the Ministry of Transportation and PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia, the annual passenger volume must reach 5 million. Thus, an action plan is needed to increase visits and passenger traffic through Syamsudin Noor Airport both domestically and internationally.
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