Soekarno–Hatta International Airport

History

Background

Prior to the construction of Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, Jakarta was served by two airports: Kemayoran Airport, which functioned as the city's main commercial passenger airport, and Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, which served as a base for the Indonesian Air Force and handled non-scheduled passenger flights.

By the late 1960s, Kemayoran Airport, Jakarta's first airport and the city's primary gateway since the Dutch colonial era, was increasingly regarded as inadequate for future expansion. Its close proximity to Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, combined with its location in the heart of the city amid densely populated residential areas, severely limited opportunities for further development. Civilian airspace around Jakarta also became increasingly restricted, while air traffic grew rapidly, creating mounting challenges for international aviation operations. As a result, the airport began suffering from chronic overcapacity due to the lack of available space for expansion. These concerns were formally raised during a senior communications officers’ meeting in Bangkok in 1969.

In the early 1970s, with assistance from USAID, eight potential sites for a new international airport were evaluated: Kemayoran, Malaka, Babakan, Jonggol, Halim, Curug, South Tangerang, and North Tangerang. Ultimately, the North Tangerang site was selected, while Jonggol was identified as a possible alternative airfield for future use. As an interim measure, the Indonesian government upgraded Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in 1974 to accommodate international passenger services. Kemayoran Airport was eventually closed in 1985, and the former airport site was later redeveloped for commercial and residential purposes.

Between 1974 and 1975, a Canadian consortium, consisting of Aviation Planning Services Ltd., ACRESS International Ltd., and Searle Wilbee Rowland (SWR), 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.

Construction and inauguration

Construction of the airport was carried out in two phases: Phase I (1975–1980) and Phase II (1980–1985). The first passenger terminal was completed in 1980. Soekarno–Hatta International Airport commenced domestic operations on 1 May 1985, replacing the overcrowded Kemayoran Airport, and was officially inaugurated by then-President Soeharto. The airport was expanded in 1991 with the construction of a new international terminal and a second runway, enabling it to take over international operations from Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport. Halim subsequently continued serving domestic, charter, VIP, and private flights, before later reopening as a secondary commercial airport in 2014 for domestic services to help relieve congestion at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, which has been operating beyond its intended capacity.

Terminals 1 and 2 of Soekarno–Hatta International Airport were designed by French architect Paul Andreu, who also designed Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. One of the airport's defining features is the incorporation of local Indonesian architectural elements into its design, complemented by tropical gardens situated between the waiting lounges. These distinctive characteristics earned the airport the 1995 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The airport's runways are aligned northeast–southwest and consist of two parallel runways, with one located on the northern side and one on the southern side. The terminal complex follows a spanning-fan layout, in which the main terminal buildings are connected to a series of waiting and boarding pavilions through corridors. These pavilions are linked to aircraft via boarding bridges. Terminal 1 is located on the southern side of the airport, while Terminals 2 is situated on the northern side. The airport's architectural concept has been described as a “garden within the airport” or an “airport in the garden”, reflecting the extensive use of tropical plants and landscaped gardens throughout the terminal complex. The boarding pavilions incorporate elements of traditional Indonesian vernacular architecture, particularly the Javanese pendopo and joglo stepped-roof styles. Interior decorations further showcase Indonesia's cultural diversity through ethnic motifs and wooden carvings inspired by the artistic traditions of Java, Bali, Sumatra, the Dayak regions of Kalimantan, Toraja, and Papua. Another notable feature is the use of the kala-makara motif—depicting a giant head and a mythical fish-elephant creature—on stair railings, doors, and gates, inspired by ancient Indonesian temples such as Borobudur.

Expansion

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.

Facilities and development

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 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.

Terminal 2 is the second terminal built and was opened in 1991. It is located on the north-western side of the airport, opposite Terminal 1. Like Terminal 1, it has three sub-terminals, labeled as D, E and F, each of which has seven gates, 40 aerobridges and 25 check-in counters. Terminal 2D and 2E and was converted into an international low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) in 2019, while terminal 2F exclusively caters to hajj and umrah (minor hajj) flights since 2025.

Terminal 3 is the airport's newest and largest terminal. The original Terminal 3 was officially opened for international flights on 15 November 2011, when all Indonesia AirAsia flights started using Terminal 3 as its new base for international, as well as domestic flights. It was built to cater to low-cost carriers. The terminal was located on the north-eastern side of the airport.

On 9 August 2016, a new passenger terminal named 'Terminal 3 Ultimate', was officially opened. The original Terminal 3 was revamped and integrated into the new Terminal 3 Ultimate, forming the current Terminal 3. It has a floor area of 422,804 m2 (4,551,020 sq ft) and was built to handle 25 million passengers per annum. Unlike Terminal 1 and 2, Terminal 3's architectural style is vastly different, using an eco-friendly contemporary modern design. It is equipped with 10 international gates, 18 domestic gates, 112 check-in counters, 59 aerobridges and 10 bus gates.

Airport hotel

Soekarno–Hatta International Airport has a five-star hotel, Sheraton Jakarta Soekarno Hatta Airport. This hotel is located inside the airport complex and has 227 guest rooms. There are other hotels located near the airport's main entrance, such as Amaris Hotel Bandara Soekarno Hatta, Fairfield by Marriott Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Ibis Budget Jakarta Airport, Ibis Styles Jakarta Airport, Orchardz Hotel Bandara Jakarta, Swiss-Belhotel Airport Jakarta, TreePark Hotel Jakarta Airport, and Zest Airport Jakarta by Swiss-Belhotel International. Terminal 3 of the airport has a digital airport hotel or capsule hotel with 120 rooms, including Alpha-type and Beta-type rooms.

Other facilities

The airport contains the head office of Garuda Indonesia, Garuda Indonesia Management Building, located in the Garuda Indonesia City Center. Angkasa Pura II's head office is on the airport property. Sriwijaya Air has its head office at Sriwijaya Air Tower.

Development

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.

Initially, Angkasa Pura II planned for an expansion that will use about 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) 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.

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 ($86.1 million) to connect the existing Runway 1 and Runway 2. The east cross taxiway was finished and opened in December 2019.

In 2019, Angkasa Pura II announced a plan to build Terminal 4, which would have been located on the north side of runway 1, north of Terminal 3, and east of Terminal 1. The terminal was to be built on 130 hectares of land and serve 45 million passengers annually. The terminal was to be designed in the form of an 'H' and use eco-friendly and modern design, similar to the design of Terminal 3. The terminal was originally expected to be operational by 2024, but construction never commenced. On 4 November 2024, plans for the construction of a fourth terminal were scrapped by Erick Thohir, then serving as Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, citing lower-than-projected passenger numbers and aircraft traffic movements.

Airlines and destinations

Busiest routes

Jakarta–Singapore is one of the world's busiest international air routes; passenger numbers on this route are growing fast. It was the second busiest international route in Asia after Hong Kong–Taipei in 2015. Singapore Airlines alone operates more than 70 weekly flights between Jakarta and Singapore. The Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta–Surabaya route is ranked ninth busiest in the world by IATA in 2016. Jakarta–Singapore, and Jakarta–Kuala Lumpur routes are ranked in the top ten of world's busiest international air routes in 2018.

New traffic procedure

To ease congestion, the airport authority implemented a new traffic procedure, the 72 Improved Runway Capacity (IRC 72), to handle 72 planes per hour. This limited a plane to 30–45 minutes only for arrival and unloading of passengers, to allow other planes to use the parking space. Gradually it has been implemented and on 26 June 2014, IRC 72 has been implemented fully for the period of 00:00 am to 01:30 am, 02:00 am to 10:00 am and 11:30 pm to 00:00 am with occupancy periods for aircraft are reduced from 110 seconds to 90 seconds of takeoff and from 65 seconds to 50 seconds for landing. The low time is from 04:00 pm to 10:00 pm with only maximum 32 flights/hour. By 2015, IRC 72 will become IRC 86 with the opening of the new terminal. As a comparison, London Heathrow Airport, which has 2 runways like SHIA, can handle 100 flights per hour, so the target for SHIA has been revised to 92 flights per hour by 2015. As of July 2017, maximum flight frequency at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport had been increased to 81 take-offs and landings per hour to accommodate increasing demand from aviation companies.

Ground transportations

There are several transportation options available for access to the airport: local airport terminal shuttles, trains, buses, taxi services of various kinds, and cars. There is a free shuttle bus service and people maneuver system Skytrain to connect the terminals of the airport.

Bus

Several bus companies, including the state-owned Perum DAMRI and private company Primajasa, provide services to various destinations from the airport. Jabodetabek Airport Connexion which consist of Perum DAMRI, Big Bird, and Sinar Jaya Megah Langgeng serve routes from the airport to certain malls and hotels in Greater Jakarta. The buses operate from 06.00 to 23.00 with routes:

Rail

The Soekarno–Hatta Airport Skytrain (Indonesian: Kalayang Bandara Soekarno–Hatta) is a semi-driverless 3.05 kilometre Automated People Mover System (APMS) which connects Terminals 1, 2, 3 and SHIA railway station, free of charge. Trains are spaced 5 minutes apart, with 7 minutes needed to get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3. The trains are only available on the landside.

The system uses Airport Automated People Mover System rubber-tyred metro manufactured by state-owned enterprise LEN Industri in cooperation with South Korean Woojin Industries.

Soekarno–Hatta Airport Commuter Line connects Jakarta city centre with the airport. The train takes 45 minutes to travel from Manggarai station in South Jakarta to SHIA station. Each train accommodates up to 272 passengers and was originally designed to serve about 35,000 passengers with 122 trips a day. As of July 2025, there is a 30-minute headway between the train departures. The Rail Link makes 35 trips daily from Manggarai station to SHIA between 05:00 and 22:00. Trips from SHIA to Manggarai run from 05:57 to 22:57.

An express line between Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport in South Jakarta and SHIA is under planning stage, to be built by an external investor in a public–private partnership. The express train will take 30 minutes to connect the airports. The construction of this line has been delayed and completion was originally projected to be in 2019 at the earliest. As of 2025, the express line has yet to be constructed.

Awards and recognitions

In 1995, the landscaping of Soekarno–Hatta airport was awarded by Aga Khan Award for Architecture as one of the best examples of integrating the terminal building pavilions with lush tropical garden harmoniously.

The airport was named the best airport by hygiene measures in Asia-Pacific in 2020 by Airports Council International.

Accidents and incidents

On 23 January 2003, a Star Air Boeing 737 touched down 500 meters (1,600 ft) past the threshold of runway 25L, a little left of the centerline, at a time of heavy rainfall with associated heavy winds. It went off the side of the runway, causing substantial damage to the aircraft's undercarriage and belly.

2003 Soekarno–Hatta International Airport bombing – On 27 April 2003, a bomb exploded in terminal 2, departure hall of the domestic terminal. The bomb was hidden under a table of a KFC stall and exploded during lunch hours. 10 people were injured in the blast, a 17-year-old teenager identified as Yuli was seriously injured and had to had her legs amputated. Emergency services were rushed to the scene and suspected that the motive of the bombing was due to the Free Aceh Movement, a separatist movement in Aceh. This was proved by the location of the blast, which was located on the domestic passenger hall rather than on the international passenger hall.

On 9 January 2021, Sriwijaya Air Flight 182, a Boeing 737-524 PK-CLC plunged into the Java Sea 6 minutes after taking off from the airport. The flight was a scheduled domestic flight to Supadio International Airport, Borneo, All 62 people on board were killed.