The new Majalengka Kertajati International airport, in Indonesia's West Java, opened to traffic on May 24 with two inaugural ad-hoc flights from Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta and Bandung operated by Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), The Jakarta Post has reported. For the time being, however, the airport will not see any scheduled services.
The airport, located some 70 kilometres from Bandung and some 150 kilometres from Jakarta, is intended to serve as a primary international gateway in the region with a specific focus on Hajj and Umrah charter flights.
Currently, Majalengka only sports a 2,500-metre-long runway which is too short for widebody aircraft operating direct long-haul services to Saudi Arabia. However, it is expected that once the Hajj season begins in August 2018, carriers will offer charter flights to Jakarta where passengers will connect onto further services to Madinah and Jeddah International.
The runway in Majalengka will also be extended to 3,000 metres with the completion of the project scheduled for the second half of 2018.
On top of the expected Hajj and Umrah charters, the airport authorities hope that airlines would launch charter flights for the June Eid al-Fitr holidays.
The airport developer, PT Bandara Internasional Jawa Barat, is owned by the provincial government and has invested a total of IDR2.1 trillion rupees (USD147 million) to date. Once the additional works are completed, the total bill is expected to rise to IDR2.6 trillion.
