Indonesia to pull the plug on Kertajati airport near Bandung

Indonesia’s ghost airport: Is Kertajati about to be shut down?

Tuesday, 05 Aug, 2025 0

In Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, white elephants have a mystical meaning. These very rare animals -which are not a distinct species despite their color- were kept by monarchs for their sacred status. Receiving a white elephant from a king was an honor. But also a burden! It was costly to maintain and legally protected from labor, making it of little practical use. Many were accepting the gift for the prestige it brought.

Indonesia has also its “white elephants”. They however describe a string of airports, built in the last decade to support a boom in air passengers’ traffic. Except that the boom never materialized!

Four airports are considered now as white elephants : Sudirman airport in Purbalingga (East Java), Ngloram Airport, Blora (Central Java), Wiriadinata Airport in Tasikmalaya (West Java) and the biggest of them, Kertajati International Airport (West Java).

The four airports, opened with much fanfare between 2018 and 2021 have no domestic flights today. Kertajati is the only airport to still see flights. It benefits of two weekly frequencies to Singapore operated by Scoot.

Kertajati Airport, a symbol of poor planning and vision

The grand air facility was built at a massive cost of IDR 2.6 trillion (US$159 million). The airport was inaugurated on May 24, 2018 and was conceived to replace the old Bandung airfield in Indonesia’s third largest city.

In terms of size, Kertajati is the second largest airport in Indonesia after Jakarta Soekarno Hatta. With a 1,800 hectares surface, the airport features a 3,000 m runway capable to welcome wide-body aircraft. It can accommodate 22 aircraft and some 11 million passengers a year.

Serving in principle Bandung, the airport is however located 98 km away from Indonesia’s third largest city. This translates into an hour and a half drive by car. It is also located 58 km of Cirebon, a large coastal city with a population of 340,000. It takes almost an hour by car to reach the town.

This is where the problem lies. Despite the government forcing all the airlines to move their flights from Bandung Husein Sastranegara airport to Kertajati in 2023, the new facility is a complete failure. It symbolizes a typical case of political prestige colluding with economic rationals.

Distance to Bandung, insufficient and disconnected infrastructure, the absence of proper planning and integrated strategy are now condemning the airport to disappear in a near future. The final nail in the coffin of Kertajati came last June with the suspension of the last domestic flights.

Bandung Husein Sastranegara airport comeback

Consequently, Kertajati never replaced Husein Sastranegara old airport, a mere 5 km from Bandung city center. In 2018, Husein Sastranegara accommodated 4.3 million passengers. Last year, Kertajati welcomed a total of around 260,000 passengers…

These days, domestic passengers who need to go to Bandung would rather fly to Jakarta Halim Airport. Jakarta second airport has indeed connections to 13 destinations in Bali, Java, Kalimantan and Sumatra. And it takes a mere two hours drive to reach then Bandung.

Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation is now reviewing the possibility of reopening Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung, as the financial strain of operating Kertajati International Airport continues to grow. Operating Kertajati costs effectively the West Java provincial government around IDR 60 billion (US$3.6 million) annually.

Bandung Mayor Muhammad Farhan stepped also into the debate. He asked the government to resume flights at Husein Sastranegara as the current reliance on Kertajati is incurring significant costs for the economy. Such a move would act as a catalyst for tourism and the retail sector. “The reopening of Husein Airport will boost tourism not only in Bandung but also across West Java,” he recently declared to local media.

Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi emphasized that reactivating Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung, would also require active participation and inputs from local governments.

Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka District could meanwhile remain active. It could then serve pilgrimage flights and develop maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services. While Bandung Sastranegara could receive again its first domestic and international flights before the end of the year.