Incheon airport signs $503m Indonesian deal

The Incheon International Airport Corp. announced, Tuesday, that it reached a 600b won ($503m) deal to develop and operate an airport in Indonesia, according to the nation's main airport operator. Under the deal, the IIAC will renovate the existing passenger terminal and build a second terminal at Hang Nadim International Airport on Batam Island and run the airport for 25 years until 2047. It is Korea's first overseas airport development and operation deal, it said. Construction is scheduled to begin in June 2022. Earlier this year, the IIAC, which formed a consortium with Indonesia's state-run airport operator PT Angkasa Pura 1 (AP1) and local construction firm PT Wijaya Karya Tbk (WIKA), was picked as the final bidder for the project after defeating Zurich Airport of Switzerland, EGIS of France and GMR of India. The signing ceremony with the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority was held on the island, attended by IIAC President Kim Kyung-wook, Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto and other dignitaries. Batam is the third-most-visited tourist destination in the Southeast Asian country after Bali and Jakarta. In 2019, some 2 million tourists, including 80,000 Koreans, traveled there. Batam's airport, which has the longest runway in Indonesia, handled 4.54 million passengers and 44,000 tons of cargo in 2019. The IIAC plans to expand the airport to accommodate 25 million passengers by 2040.<br/>