Kemayoran Airport Bandar Udara Kemayoran | |||||||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||||||
Airport type | Defunct | ||||||||||||||
Owner | Kemayoran Planning and Development Center[1] | ||||||||||||||
Operator | Angkasa Pura | ||||||||||||||
Serves | |||||||||||||||
Location | Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, Indonesia | ||||||||||||||
Opened | 8 July 1940 | ||||||||||||||
Closed | 31 March 1985 | ||||||||||||||
Passenger services ceased | 1 October 1984 | ||||||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 12 ft / 4 m | ||||||||||||||
Coordinates | 06°08′50″S 106°51′00″E / 6.14722°S 106.85000°E | ||||||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||||||
Location in Jakarta, Indonesia | |||||||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||||||
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Kemayoran Airport (Indonesian: Bandar Udara Kemayoran) (formerly IATA: JKT, ICAO: WIID),[2] also known in its old spelling as Kemajoran, was the principal airport in Jakarta, Indonesia from 1940 until 1985.[3] Kemayoran was built during Dutch East Indies administration by the Department of Transport, Public Works and Irrigation in 1934 on the land that was formerly swamps, rice fields, and residential areas.[4]
It was officially opened on 8 July 1940.[5] However, the airport began operations on 6 July 1940, with the landing of the first aircraft, a DC-3 Dakota owned by the Royal Dutch East Indies Airways (KNILM), which had flown from Tjililitan Airfield.[1] It was the first airport in Dutch East Indies to be opened for scheduled international flights.[6]
During World War II, Kemayoran was used by the Royal Air Force and became RAF Kemajoran. It was one of their RAF stations in Southeast Asia until it was captured by the Japanese Imperial Army in 1942.[3][7]
After Indonesia gained independence, the government under President Sukarno began upgrading terminal buildings, runways, taxiways, aprons, hangars, operational equipment and constructing a new international terminal building to accommodate foreign tourists and as part of His grand plan to beautify the capital city of Indonesia.[8]
Due to increasing air traffic in Indonesia and Jakarta's increasingly crowded spatial layout, flights in the middle of the city started to be considered unsafe.[9][10] The airport's capacity could no longer be expanded, forcing the government under President Suharto to consider constructing a new international airport with greater facilities and capacity as soon as possible.[9] The airport was officially closed on 31 March 1985 and immediately transferred to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.[1]
The location of the former airport has been a favorite subject in urban planning. The former runways have been converted into a wide boulevard, while the green areas around it have been gradually filled with developments such as Jakarta International Exposition Center (JIExpo) and Kota Baru Bandar Kemayoran.[9]