Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, led a coordination meeting on airport service optimization in Bali on Thursday. — Photo ANTARA

JAKARTA — Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono is aiming to ensure airports in Indonesia will get included in the list of top 10 airports in the world by 2029.

At the Airport Service Optimisation Coordination Meeting in Bali on Thursday, he stressed that it is not impossible for Indonesia to enter the top 10 based on Skytrax data.

Currently, the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten is ranked 28th in the world, up 15 places from 2023, while I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali is ranked 74th, or up six places.

To improve the rankings, he held a dialogue with several foreign ambassadors to discuss the opening of direct flights to the country. Most recently, he met British Ambassador to discuss bilateral cooperation as well as urge the UK to start direct flights not only on the London-Jakarta route but also on the London-Bali one.

Earlier, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir laid stress on the need to improve the quality of Indonesia’s airports to maintain their competitive edge with Malaysia and Singapore.

The upgrade should begin at Soekarno-Hatta and I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airports to make strong impression on foreign tourists, he added. — VNS