The government is set to start its “air bridge” program this year to improve the flow of goods and reduce price disparities in Papua, the country’s easternmost province.

Under the program, the government will operate 11 air routes, so that it can better distribute staple goods to the province’s remote and mountainous areas.

It will operate as soon as President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo revises Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 106/2015 on goods and sea transportation for the public, expected this month.

“The air bridge program can be implemented as soon as the legal umbrella exists,” Ubaedillah, head of the sub-directorate of non-scheduled commercial air transportation at the Transportation Ministry, said on Thursday.

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The decree will regulate whether the operations of the routes will be managed by state-owned enterprises or private companies. At present, there is no state air transportation company that is focused on logistics distribution.

The Transportation Ministry has allocated Rp 22 billion (US$1.65 million) as a subsidy to wholly cover the cost of flying the 11 routes. The routes will have three airport hubs, namely in Timika, Wamena and Dekai.

The 11 routes comprise Timika-Beoga, Timika-Sinak, Timika-Ilaga, Timika-Kenyam, Wamena-Mugi, Wamena-Mamit, Wamena-Mapenduma, DekaiSilimo, Dekai-Ubahak, DekaiAnggruk and Dekai-Korupun.

Each route will be served by one flight per week. Ubaedillah said the types of aircraft needed were small, such as the CessnaGrand Caravan 208B, Twin Otter or Pilatus Porter.

The government is also planning to set up a direct flight from Timika to Wamena using a Boeing 737-freighter with a maximum capacity of 14 tons per flight. It will provide subsidies for the route as well, but only to cover half the costs.

“The current price of cement in Timika is Rp 90,000 per sack, while in Wamena, it can cost Rp 600,000 to Rp 700,000 per sack. In 2017, we are trying to optimize the state budget to subsidize air cargo from Timika to Wamena,” he said. As the government needs morefundstosubsidizetheTimikaWamena route, it is looking to increase the overall subsidy amount for the air bridge program to Rp 60 billion.

The government plans to implement the program in remote areas in Sulawesi and Kalimantan in 2018, so that cargo aircraft can transport goods from Masamba to Seko and Rampi in South Sulawesi, and from Tarakan to Long Bawan and Long Apung in North Kalimantan.

The Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) has welcomed the plan to establish the 11 routes, but the decision to participate in the program will be up to each member’s own assessment.

INACA secretary-general Tengku Burhanuddin said the subsidy provision would be a key factor in the program as route profitability was paramount among airlines.

“The private sector is commercially oriented. We will fly if [the business is] profitable and won’t fly if it’s not profitable,” he said.

Meanwhile, safety remains a challenge for the program due to Papua’s difficult terrain.

State-run air navigation company AirNav has said it plans to install seven automatic dependent surveillance broadcasts (ADS-B), a more modern navigation system, in Papua.

The tool will be purchased by AirNav from PT Industri Telekomunikasi Indonesia (INTI), which had its ADS-B equipment certified by the government this year.