Soekarno–Hatta International Airport
Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, also sometimes abbreviated as SHIA or Soetta, and formerly legally called Jakarta Cengkareng Airport, is the primary airport serving the Jakarta metropolitan area on the island of Java in Indonesia. Named after the first president and vice-president of Indonesia, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, the airport is located at Benda, Tangerang and Cengkareng, West Jakarta, which is about 20 km northwest of Central Jakarta.
For 2023 figures Airports Council International stated Soetta served 49.08 million passengers, ranked the 3rd busiest in Southeast Asia, after Singapore's Changi Airport and Thailand's Suvarnabhumi Airport.
However the local airports authority PT Angkasa Pura gave a larger figure of 54.8 million passengers for 2023, placing Soetta behind Singapore's Changi but ahead of Thailand's Suvarnabhumi
For 2024, Soetta was the second busiest airports in South-East Asia by OAG with 39,327,770 seats, behind Singapore's Changi with 41,530,309 seats.
The airport handled 348,088 aircraft movements in 2023.
History
Soetta airport commenced domestic operations on 1 May 1985 replacing the old over-capacity Kemayoran Airport. The airport was expanded in 1991 to replace Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport for international flights, which still serves domestic charter, VIP, private flights, and re-opened as a second commercial airport for domestic flights to relieve pressure over Soekarno-Hatta airport that is currently running overcapacity.To reduce congestion and to achieve a target to handle 100 flights per hour, a third runway opened in August 2019 and a fourth terminal was planned to be in operation by 2025.
The airport was planned to serve 100 million passengers annually by 2025 after completion of development work. However on 4 November 2024, the construction of the fourth terminal was cancelled by Eric Tohir the then minister of state-owned enterprises, due to lower-than-projected passenger numbers and lower aircraft traffic movement.
Until 1985, Jakarta's first airport, Kemayoran Airport, was the main airport for the city and was eventually considered inadequate for further expansion because it was too close to the major Halim Perdanakusuma airport. The civil airspace in the area became increasingly restricted, while air traffic increased rapidly, posing problems for international air traffic. In 1969, a senior communication officers meeting in Bangkok expressed these concerns.
In the early 1970s, with the help of USAID, eight potential locations were analyzed for a new international airport, namely Kemayoran, Malaka, Babakan, Jonggol, Halim, Curug, South Tangerang and North Tangerang. Finally, the North Tangerang site was chosen; it was also noted that Jonggol could be used as an alternative airfield. Meanwhile, as an interim step, the Indonesian government upgraded the Halim Perdanakusuma airfield for use for passenger services. The old Kemayoran site was closed in 1985, and the land was later used for commercial and housing purposes.
Between 1974 and 1975, a Canadian consortium, consisting of Aviation Planning Services Ltd., ACRESS International Ltd., and Searle Wilbee Rowland, won a bid for the new airport feasibility project. The feasibility study started on 20 February 1974, costing 1 million Canadian dollars. The one-year project proceeded with an Indonesian partner represented by PT Konavi. By the end of March 1975, the study revealed a plan to build three inline runways, three international terminal buildings, three domestic buildings, and one for Hajj flights. Three stores for the domestic terminals would be built between 1975 and 1981 at a cost of US$465 million and one domestic terminals including an apron from 1982 to 1985 for US$126 million. A new terminal project, named the Jakarta International Airport Cengkareng, began.
Design
The airport's terminals 1 and 2 were designed by Paul Andreu, a French architect who also designed Paris–Charles de Gaulle Airport. One of the characteristics of the airport is the incorporation of local architecture into the design and the presence of tropical gardens between the waiting lounges. These unique characteristics earned the airport the 1995 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The runways run northeast-southwest. There are three parallel runways, two on the north side and one on the south side. The airport terminal took the plan of spanning fan, with the main entrances of terminals connected to a series of waiting and boarding pavilions via corridors. These waiting and boarding pavilions are connected to the airplanes through boarding bridges. Terminal 1 is on the southern side of the airport, while Terminals 2 and 3 are on the north side.The airport concept is described as "garden within the airport" or "airport in the garden", as tropical decorative and flower plants fill the spaces between corridors, waiting and boarding pavilions. The boarding pavilions demonstrate local Indonesian vernacular architecture, particularly the roof, in the Javanese stepped-roof pendopo and joglo style. The interior design displays the diversity of Indonesian art and culture, with ethnic decorative elements taken from wooden carvings of Java, Bali, Sumatra, Dayak, Toraja to Papua. Another example is the railings of stairs, doors, and gates, which show the kala-makara theme typical in ancient Indonesian temples such as Borobudur. Terminal 3, however, has a different architectural style—unlike the ethnic-inspired Indonesian vernacular architecture of terminals 1 and 2, terminal 3 uses the contemporary modern style of large glass windows with metal frames and columns.
Project phases
On 20 May 1980, a four-year contract was signed. Sainraptet Brice, SAE, Colas together with PT. Waskita Karya was chosen to be the developer. Ir. Karno Barkah was appointed the project director, responsible for the airport's construction. On 1 December 1980, the Indonesian government signed a contract for Rp. 384.8 billion with developers. The cost structure was: Rp140,450,513,000 from the state budget, 1,223,457 francs donated by France and US$15,898,251 from the United States. The airport structure was completed exactly four years later.| Phase | Year | Description | Status |
| Phase 1 | 1 May 1985 | Opening of Terminal 1 with a capacity of 9 million passengers per annum | Completed |
| Phase 2 | 11 May 1991 | Opening of Terminal 2 with a capacity of 18 million passengers per annum | Completed |
| Phase 3 | 15 April 2009 | Construction of Terminal 3 phase 1 with a capacity of 22 million passengers per annum | Completed |
| Phase 3 | 15 April 2009 | Fully built new freight terminal | Pending |
| Phase 4 | 9 August 2016 | Completion of Terminal 3 with a capacity of 43 million passengers per annum | Completed |
| Phase 4 | 9 August 2016 | Construction of airport railway | Completed |
| Phase 4 | 9 August 2016 | Construction of third runway | Completed |
| Phase 4 | 9 August 2016 | Construction of east-cross taxiway | Completed |
| Phase 5 | 2022 | Refurbishment of Terminal 1 & Terminal 2 to increase capacity to 61 million passengers per annum | In progress |
Plans
In the first stage, Terminal 3 will be expanded. Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 will be integrated with green walls and the airport will have a convention hall, shopping center, hotel, playground, recreational facilities and parking area for 20,000 vehicles.To anticipate a surge in passenger numbers, at least a ten percent increase each year, the government made plans to build a third runway. By May 2019 the construction progress reached 70 percent. 2500 meters of the runway began operational on 15 August 2019. The third runway will be expanded to 3000 metres by the end of 2019. With the opening of the third runway, capacity was increased to 114 flights per hour, up from 81 flights per hour.
Initially, Angkasa Pura II planned for an expansion that will use about from 10 villages in the Teluk Naga and Kosambi subdistricts. The expansion plan was rejected by the Tangerang Municipal Government because the residents living around the airport would lose their jobs. The local government offered another location such as in Balaraja, but Angkasa Pura II corporate secretary said that building a new airport would not be an easy task, as it requires a thorough study. Finally, Angkasa Pura II only used 134 hectares of land and appraisal will be used to buy the land. It can be done due to a new design for the third runway.
To accommodate 86 aircraft movements per hour from the current 72 movements per hour, since 2016 the airport authority has been developing an east cross taxiway costing Rp 1.15 trillion to connect the existing Runway 1 and Runway 2. The east cross taxiway was finished and opened in December 2019.
Terminals
There are three main terminal buildings: Terminal 1, Terminal 2 and Terminal 3. The airport also has a dedicated freight terminal for domestic and international cargo.Terminal 1
Terminal 1 is the first terminal built and was opened in 1985. It is located on the southern side of the airport, opposite Terminal 2. Terminal 1 has three sub-terminals, each equipped with 25 check-in counters, 23 aerobridges, five baggage carousels, and seven gates. It can handle 9 million passengers per annum.The gates in Terminal 1 have a prefix of A, B or C. The gates are A1–A7, B1–B7 and C1–C7. In the latest master plan, Terminal 1 will have its capacity increased to 18 million passengers per annum.
Terminal 1B and Terminal 1C underwent renovations in early 2020s. The project is expected to double the number of passengers at both terminals to 36 million a year. Terminal 1B was reopened on 15 March 2025, followed by Terminal 1C on 12 November of the same year.