The Second Resurrection of the Aviation Industry

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Pesawat N219 seusai mendarat setelah terbang perdana di PT Dirgantara Indonesia, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Rabu (16/8).

Aug. 16, 2017, is a historic day for the Indonesian people, especially for the national aviation industry.

On this date, a day before the 70th anniversary of the country’s independence, the prototype N219 Nurtanio aircraft manufactured by state-owned aircraftmaker PT Diagantara Indonesia (PTDI) successfully carried out its maiden flight.

This twin-propeller plane was piloted by Esther Gayatri Saleh, with Adi Budi Atmoko as co-pilot, and took off from Husein Sastranegara International Airport, Bandung, West Java, at 9.13 a.m. and flew around province for 30 minutes.

The historical event marked the rise of PTDI as an independent national aviation industry following 20 years of financial difficulties. The state-owned company, previously known as Nusantara Aircraft Industry (IPTN), successfully made its own prototype N250 aircraft, which carried out its maiden flight on August 10, 1995.

In fact, three months after that, the government announced it would pioneer the manufacture of the N2130 airplane. However, the global economic crisis in 1997-98 stopped the plan.

But PTDI\'s effort to make its own aircraft did not end there. Although its number of employees had declined to around 4,000  from about 16,000 before the crisis, the aircraft industry continued its activities. In fact, PTDI announced its plan to make the N219.

Design research of the aircraft was initiated in 2006 by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan), which had just resumed aviation research and established the Aviation Technology Center after it was dismantled in 1974. The work was then transferred to PTDI, which made an aircraft prototype.

The new aircraft made by PTDI is different from the first-generation plane. In addition to being shorter by 10 meters than the N250, it had a capacity of only 19 passengers. The entire manufacturing process was handled by Indonesian engineers.

"The N250 still involved foreign parties that provided technical assistance," said the president director of PTDI, Budi Santoso.

However, the design and manufacture of N219 did not start from zero, because it also partly used facilities for the manufacture of CN235 and N250 aircraft. The senior engineers and technicians who were involved in the production of the two planes were also involved.

However, the head of PTDI’s N219 program, Budi Sampurno, said plans to fly the prototype airplane had been delayed several times since 2016 due to problems related to the integration of components and assembly units of the plane. At least 500 components and 800 assembly units needed to be adjusted and retested.

"It was quite reasonable, because in terms of design and structure, the aircraft was the latest [innovation] in the world. So, we had to make sure each component worked well," he said.

The concept and target market of the N219 aircraft is different from the N250’s. This aircraft is intended primarily for pioneering flights and hilly areas in remote areas in the country. With this concept, the head of Lapan, Thomas Djamaluddin, believes that the N219 can enter the commercial stage because its target is to meet specific air transportation needs for Indonesian people in remote areas and islands. Moreover, PTDI has booked 100 orders for the aircraft from national airlines.

After the maiden flight

After a successful inaugural flight test in August, the N219 aircraft underwent several other flight tests, not only in Bandung, but also in Jakarta and Sukabumi, West Java. The goal is to test the characteristics and performance of the engines and control systems, as well as aircraft navigation.

After the seventh flight test, the successful N219 prototype plane landed in Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport, East Jakarta, and was officially given the name Nurtanio by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to coincide with the Heroes Day celebration on Nov. 10.

In advanced flight trials to Palabuhanratu, Sukabumi and Bandung, the N219 was able to reach speeds of 296.32 kilometers per hour and a height of 10,000 feet.

"As of Dec. 5, the N219 Nurtanio aircraft has made 13 flight tests with 16 hours of flying," the legal affairs and public relations manager of PTDI, Irland Budiman, said last Friday,

The flight duration is still about 4 percent of the 350-hour flight target that must be met for the prototype to be certified. To accelerate the process of achieving the flight test target, PTDI is making a second N219 IPTN prototype, which is targeted to finish and undergo a test flight in the first quarter of 2018.

Furthermore, two other prototypes are also being made to undergo a fatigue test of up to 3,000 cycles. It aims to get a Type Certificate by the end of 2018. After obtaining the Type Certificate, a series of production begins to obtain a production certificate. So, by 2019 the first N219 aircraft is expected to be ready to enter the market. There are several potential users waiting in early July 2019, one of them is PT Pelita Air Service.

The N219 aircraft will be produced in stages. Initially, production will only include six units. Production capacity is then increased to 50 a year with the use of automation systems in the manufacturing process.

Another plane

While working on the N219, Lapan also announced in 2015 that it would partner with PTDI to pioneer the manufacture of larger aircraft, the N245. The plan to build a 45-seater commuter plane is to meet the request of President Jokowi to provide inter-island air transportation to overcome the price gap between western and eastern Indonesia.

The design of this aircraft will be based on the CN-235 by adding to the length and eliminating the ramp door to make it lighter. By reducing the ramp door, the plane’s capacity can be increased by six passengers. Construction of the new airplane will be 70 percent based on existing CN235 production facilities and human resources that have already mastered its manufacturing technology.

Therefore, development costs can be reduced by 20 percent and the time required will be shorter, or about three years. The cost of developing a new aircraft generally requires an investment of US$800 million to $1 billion, while the N245 will cost between $150 million and $200 million.

In the private sector, plans to manufacture airplanes also came from PT Regio Aviasi Industri (RAI), a company founded by BJ Habibie as chairman and his son, Ilham Habibie. The company created a propelled airplane called the R80, which has a capacity of 80 passengers. This aircraft will enter the detailed design phase in 2018 and will need at least $200 million to be completed.

"The funds are expected to come from investors at home and abroad, including through raising funds from the public," the director of PT RAI, Agung Nugroho, said in late September.

The R80 prototype will be tested in 2021 to get a certificate, then mass produced by 2025. "It will serve short-to medium-sized flights at airports with 1,300-meter runways," said Agung.

"Up until next year, the investment commitment is expected to reach$1.5 billion," said Desra Firza Ghazfan, chief investment officer of PT RAI.

The funds are needed for design, security analysis and certification. By 2021, the aircraft will reach full assembly and system integration.

According to Habibie, the propeller aircraft is more efficient for short distances because it has an average speed of 500 knots (926 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed of 800 knots.

PT RAI plans to produce 400 aircraft in 15 years, 50 percent of which will be used to meet domestic needs. The detailed design phase involves 1,500 workers. "If everything goes as planned, in 2018, we can begin the production of a prototype," said Agung.

Based on the development program of the three planes, the N219 is more advanced, but still needs some more steps to enter the market.

Independence in the aerospace field must be achieved in view of the vastness of the country, with its population spread over tens of thousands of islands.

If this nation remains dependent on foreign parties, its sovereignty will be reduced. Thus, tens of thousands of islands must be connected by means of inter-island transportation systems, which can be achieved by developing the aviation industry.

However, airplane manufacturing is a large, labor-intensive and capital-intensive industry. Therefore, the long-term commitment of the government must be sustainable to support the development of this aerospace industry, so it can become self-sufficient in the future.