The Indonesian government will include seven airports in different towns into the liberalization program of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), an official said on July 19.

Director of Civil Aviation Tri Sunoko said the government would liberalize airports in Batam, Balikpapan, Biak, Makassar, Manado, Palembang and Pontianak.

Indonesia, which has hundreds of airports, cannot put them under the liberalization altogether.

"We have hundreds of airports, so we cannot liberalize them all at once. We will carry out the process gradually, starting with seven airports in eastern Indonesia," he was quoted by leading news website Detik.com as saying.

Under the liberalization, airlines from the ten-member regional group can carry as many passengers as they can from the members, starting in 2012.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.