Kertajati Airport will open new routes, from Surabaya to Singapore

"This (addition of routes) is almost positive, especially the ones to Singapore. However, we cannot yet mention the airlines (airlines). "The target is to have (the route) this year," said Ari.

Also read: Kertajati Airport Opens New Routes Starting April

In fact, representatives of one of Singapore's airlines have directly checked Kertajati Airport. "They have applied for a slot (time availability) to fly to Kertajati. This is an interesting goal. "Singapore flights can connect (connect) to everywhere," he said.

The agency announced that the Singapore route will be included in the Umrah flights from Kertajati to Saudi Arabia. Previously, Kertajati Airport had served several Umrah flights with airlines such as Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, and Citilink. However, these operations did not continue.

With a route to Singapore, Ari hopes that umrah flights will come back to life in Kertajati. Moreover, the potential number of umrah passengers from West Java is estimated at 300,000-400,000 people per year. They still fly via Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng (Kompas.id, 6/8/2023).

Apart from Umrah, he continued, flights to Singapore can also attract tourists. Because, "Lion of Lions" has become a world tourist destination. On the contrary, he hopes that the new route can attract tourists from Singapore and other countries to areas in West Java.

Meanwhile, flights to Surabaya, Pontianak, and Makassar have also operated at Kertajati Airport. In fact, Citilink became the first airline to open regular commercial flights from Kertajati to Surabaya and vice versa in 2018.

Kertajati Airport also served flights to Pontianak and Makassar in 2019. The route was a transfer from Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung, West Java. However, like the Surabaya route, the flight was not sustained due to a lack of passengers.

In October 2023, the government once again moved seven routes from Husein Airport to Kertajati. These routes include Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Batam, Denpasar, Makassar, Medan, and Palembang. However, only routes to Balikpapan, Denpasar, and Medan are still available.

Apart from those three routes, the second largest airport in Indonesia after Soekarno-Hatta also serves flights to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Airlines operating at the 1,800-hectare airport include Citilink, Super Air Jet, AirAsia, and Malaysia Airlines.

We are still studying the cause of the closure of several routes in Kertajati due to the lack of passengers. According to him, flight schedules that do not match the needs of passengers could be a triggering factor. Moreover, there is only one aircraft that serves that area.

Load factor (airplane occupancy rate) is currently still quite good, on average above 83 percent. (Ari Widodo)

Currently, there are 12-14 flights to and from Kertajati every day. The route from Kertajati to Denpasar and vice versa has the highest number, with six flights per day. The remaining flights operate four times a week, heading to Balikpapan, Medan, and Malaysia.

"Load factor (airplane occupancy rate) is currently still quite good, on average above 83 percent," said Ari. The number of passengers per day is 1,700–1,800 people. He hopes that the addition of flight routes can increase the number of passengers at Kertajati Airport.

Dwi Ayu (32), a resident of Cirebon who often travels back and forth to Makassar, hopes that Kertajati Airport will reopen flight routes to her destination. Until now, she and her family have had to prepare for over six hours of travel time to Soekarno-Hatta Airport in order to reach Makassar.

"However, if we could fly from Kertajati, it would be closer and save time. The journey from Cirebon to Kertajati is only one hour. Hopefully, there will be direct flights to Makassar again," he said.

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