July 16, 2025
JAKARTA – Indonesia has seen several airports on Java Island temporarily cease domestic operations after years of subdued performance, which experts attribute to poor planning and inadequate infrastructure.
Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka, West Java, suspended all domestic routes on June 2. The airport now operates only international flights to Singapore, twice a week.
West Java administration spokesperson Deny Hermawan explained that the suspension was due to limited fleet availability among the five airlines that previously served the airport: Lion Air, Super Air Jet, Citilink, AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines. He added that these carriers had “prioritized serving routes with higher occupancy.”
Opened in 2018, Kertajati is Indonesia’s second-largest airport after Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten. However, unlike the bustling Soekarno-Hatta, Kertajati has seen declining passenger traffic, with the number of international passengers plummeting 81.1 percent year-on-year in May, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS).
The Transportation Ministry is considering reopening Husein Sastranegara Airport, which is located closer to Bandung, the provincial capital and its most populous city, due to ballooning operational costs of Rp 60 billion (US$3.6 million) per year that the local government must bear to keep Kertajati running.
However, Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi noted that reopening Husein Airport would require further assessment of its potential impacts on Kertajati’s operations.
In the meantime, the government is trying to reposition Kertajati as a departure and arrival hub for haj flights and to transform it into a center for maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services.
Read also: Bandung mayor urges govt to reopen Husein Sastranegara Airport
Meanwhile, Dhoho International Airport in Kediri, East Java, has also suspended operations until July 31, citing limited fleet availability and maintenance needs.
In a statement published on June 23, East Java Regional Legislative Council (DPRD) member Khusnul Arif blamed poor government planning for undermining the sustainability of Dhoho Airport, despite trillions of rupiah invested.
Dhoho is one of the government’s national strategic projects (PSN), inaugurated last year. It was developed through a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme initiated by major tobacco manufacturer PT Gudang Garam.
The Transportation Ministry’s aviation director general, Lukman F. Laisa, told reporters on Wednesday that the ministry was actively inviting more airlines to open new routes at several airports, including Kertajati and Dhoho, through “bilateral travel agreements.”
Impossible to save
Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) secretary-general Bayu Sutanto told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the airport closures, especially in Kertajati, reflect failures stemming from a lack of feasibility studies and integrated planning.
He urged the government “not to repeat the same mistake,” pointing out that Kertajati was built without a hub-and-spoke network to support its connectivity.
Chappy Hakim, chairman of the Indonesian Air Power Studies Center (PSAPI), also criticized the inadequate infrastructure, calling Kertajati “a symbol of megaproject failure.”
“Transportation infrastructure development, such as airports, must follow basic principles: strategic location, strong connectivity and realistic projections of passenger growth. In Kertajati’s case, all of these were ignored,” he wrote in an analysis published on Friday.
He added that the airport had been constructed without sufficient road transport integration, including toll roads, railways and shuttle buses.
While Chappy acknowledged that plans to optimize the underutilized airport as a maintenance hub might succeed, he said actual progress remains far below expectations.
“It needs concrete initiatives, streamlined regulations and broader ecosystem support if the airport is to be truly utilized,” he stated.
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Aviation expert Alvin Lie also told the Post on Friday that both Kertajati and Dhoho airports were developed without a clear market orientation.
He emphasized that a well-planned airport should grow sustainably in phases, with additional runways and terminals built in line with traffic increases to avoid cost overruns.
For example, he noted that Soekarno-Hatta Airport was initially established in 1985 with a single runway and one terminal. The second and third terminals were constructed only after a surge in passenger numbers.
“It’s overly ambitious to build an airport with a 3,000-meter runway all at once, hoping to accommodate large aircraft without considering the high operational and maintenance costs,” Alvin said.
He added that several other airports across Java have also suffered from muted demand, with their development often driven more by political interests than market needs. Some, he said, are “impossible to save.”
Among the affected airports are Jenderal Besar Soedirman Airport in Purbalingga and Ngloram Airport in Cepu, both in Central Java, as well as Wiriadinata Airport in Tasikmalaya, West Java and Trunojoyo and Notohadinegoro airports in East Java.