Kualanamu International Airport
North Sumatra, Indonesia
An airport that blends local heritage with an international vision
Service
Architecture + Masterplanning
Sector
Aviation + Transport
Client
MBJ Airports Limited
Size
9 million passengers per annum
Solution
Kualanamu International Airport is one of Indonesia’s largest airports, serving as the principal international aviation gateway for North Sumatra east of Medan. Opened in 2013 to replace the city’s previous Polonia airport, Kualanamu operates under a long-term concession structure. Benoy was commissioned to develop the airport’s Commercial Space Masterplan, structured as a multi-phase study covering feasibility and design plan evaluation across the terminal’s commercial estate. The work establishes the foundation for the operator’s longer-term commercial strategy and space planning for the airport.
Feasibility, audit and global comparators
Phase 1 of the work covered a feasibility study and commercial space masterplan, beginning with an evaluation of the airport’s historic and forecast passenger composition (segments, international versus domestic mix, flows, dwell time and gate utilisation). A detailed audit of the current commercial offer followed, covering trading performance of duty-free, retail, F&B and services units, current layouts and configuration, and product and tenant mix. The airport’s commercial performance was assessed against comparable international airports on spend per passenger, space per million passenger and sales density, alongside a review of five leading airports for transferable lessons in physical programming, tenant mix and customer experience.
Design plan evaluation, programming and advertising strategy
Phase 2 of the work translates the feasibility findings into commercial space guidelines: m² allocations across duty-free, speciality retail, F&B and retail services, with recommendations on clustering, zoning, unit sizes and tenant mix. The work also develops an integrated advertising strategy aligned to the chosen commercial layout, and applies Benoy’s bespoke airport commercial plan evaluation matrix to score and compare design plan options against passenger flow, walking distance, peak traffic demand, circulation requirements and brand spatial fit.
