Papua's Locked Skies: Why Pioneer Airstrips Keep Being Targeted
On what should have been a quiet morning, a small Cessna Grand Caravan PK-SNR touched down on the runway at Danawage Koroway Batu, Boven Digoel, South Papua. At 11.05 WITA on 11 February 2026, a burst of gunfire struck the aircraft’s fuselage. Passengers scattered, fleeing into the forest on the opposite side of the strip. Captain Egon Erawan and co-pilot Captain Baskoro attempted to follow but did not make it. The Joint Task Force for Operation Damai Cartenz evacuated the bodies of the two Smart Aviation pilots from Koroway Batu airstrip on Thursday, 12 February 2026.
This was not the first time. In August 2024, a helicopter belonging to PT Intan Angkasa Air Service was shot at in Mimika, killing pilot Gleen Malcolm Conning. Before that, a Susi Air aircraft was seized and its pilot, Philip Mark Marteens, was taken into the forest where he remained captive for years.
The pattern is always the same: pioneer aircraft, remote routes, easy targets, and victims who never asked to be part of the conflict.
Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi announced the temporary closure of 11 pioneer airstrips across Papua as a preventive measure following the shooting of the pilot and co-pilot, aimed at ensuring aviation safety and operational security at the airports. The closures took effect from Monday, 16 February 2026.
The closures were imposed because the airstrips were deemed to lack adequate security provisions, posing risks to crew and passengers on pioneer flight operations.
The 11 closed pioneer airstrips are: Satpel Koroway Batu, Bomakia Airport, Satpel Yaniruma, Satpel Manggelum, Lapter Kapiraya, Lapter Iwur, Lapter Faowi, Lapter Dagai, Lapter Aboy, Lapter Teraplu, and Lapter Beoga.
Five other airstrips fall into the category of vulnerable but still under control. Security is being provided by TNI and Polri personnel, allowing operations to continue under close monitoring. These five locations are Kiwirok Airport, Moanamani Airport, Satpel Sinak in Ilaga, Satpel Agandugume in Ilaga, and Illu Airport.
No deadline has been set for the reopening of the closed airstrips. Operational activities will only resume once TNI-Polri security is in place and conditions are declared conducive and meeting aviation safety standards.
The Transport Ministry has been conducting intensive coordination with various stakeholders to ensure security conditions around the airports can be managed optimally, particularly in disadvantaged, frontier, outermost and border regions (3TP), in order to protect pioneer aviation services.
With each incident, Papua’s skies grow quieter. The communities that depend on these small aircraft — for medicine, rice, teachers, doctors — must wait ever longer. At every turn, the same question resurfaces: why do pioneer airstrips, lifelines for some of Indonesia’s most isolated communities, keep becoming targets?