Indonesia's Manado Sam Ratulangi International airport will undergo a year-long capacity expansion from September.
The airport's annual handling capacity will increase from 2.5 million to six million passengers, by more than doubling the passenger terminal's size to 56,000sqm, says Indonesia's cabinet secretariat.
It explains the increase was needed as the number of foreign tourists visiting Manado has steadily increased over several years.
"The passenger terminal here needs additional capacity to handle the growing number of visitors. The runway also needs to be extended further in order to facilitate widebodies wanting to fly into Manado. As a result, we have ordered a terminal capacity expansion. Works will begin in September and will be completed in August 2020" says the country's president Joko Widodo in the secretariat's statement.
In a separate statement, the transport ministry says the 2,650m runway will be extended by 150m to 2,800m It also expects the runway extension and terminal expansion projects to be built at a cost Rp500 billion ($35.3 million).
The airport is managed by Angkasa Pura I.
Cirium schedules data shows that the Manado airport is connected to 22 domestic and international points. It also indicates that Lion Air Group carriers Lion Air, Wings Air and Batik Air are the top three carriers in terms of seat capacity offered.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
