PT Angkasa Pura II, Indonesia’s largest airport operator, is pushing ahead with the construction of a new goods-handling facility in Jakarta, betting the movement of cargo will help an industry laid to waste by the reduction in passenger flights, Bloomberg reports. 

It’s calling upon third parties that are interested in investing alongside it to submit proposals in the fourth quarter. 

The total investment is “estimated to be 7.5 trillion to 8 trillion rupiah ($545 million),” President Director Muhammad Awaluddin said in an interview. “We have a lot of interest in the project.” Flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia will also help develop the facility, he said. 

The goods-handling depot is going ahead even though Angkasa Pura plans to reduce capital spending by as much as 90 percent this year to around 712 billion rupiah, the report noted.  

PT Angkasa Pura II predicts cargo traffic at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport will rise to 1 million tonnes a year from 600,000 tonnes currently within the next three years. 

Air-cargo volumes in Indonesia were almost 24,000 tonnes in late July versus 6,620 tonnes at the beginning of March, transport ministry data show.  

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