Kertajati Airport to continue serving Hajj and Umrah flights alongside MRO function

The Ministry of Transportation, through its Directorate General of Civil Aviation, has stated that Kertajati Airport in Majalengka Regency, West Java, will continue to serve Hajj and Umrah flights whilst also being developed as a Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facility. “Regarding Kertajati, it will indeed be used for MRO, but its function for Hajj and Umrah pilgrim flights will remain,” an official said in Jakarta on Thursday. Kertajati Airport has been used as an embarkation point for Hajj and Umrah flights since 2023. It is the second largest airport in Indonesia after Soekarno-Hatta Airport, with a passenger terminal capacity of up to 5.6 million passengers per year. Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) previously revealed a collaboration between state-owned PT Dirgantara Indonesia and regional enterprise PT Bandarudara Internasional Jawa Barat to develop the Kertajati area as an aerospace industrial hub. He noted that one of the ongoing challenges is to ensure Kertajati Airport becomes more active, with more flights utilising it, including for Hajj and Umrah. Beyond that, efforts are underway to develop an aerospace industrial zone. AHY explained that with Bandung becoming increasingly densely populated and facing competing spatial planning interests, a larger development area is needed, making Kertajati an ideal choice. He added that Kertajati’s location in Majalengka Regency, within the Cirebon–Patimban–Kertajati (Rebana) metropolitan area, is strategic. To the west, it connects directly to Jakarta and the industrial zones of Bekasi, Karawang, and Purwakarta, as well as Patimban Port. To the east, it links to Cirebon and onwards to Central Java as far as Semarang, whilst to the south, Kertajati is expected to serve as a feeder for flights to various districts and cities in southern West Java and Central Java.