Sentani Airport
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Sentani Airport (SNA) Bandar Udara Sentani-Jayapura |
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Aerial view of Sentani Airport
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IATA: DJJ – ICAO: WAJJ
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Owner | Jayapura Government | ||||||||||
Serves | Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 289 ft / 88 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. | ||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Sentani Airport (Indonesian: Bandar Udara Sentani) (IATA: DJJ, ICAO: WAJJ) is an airport serving Jayapura,[1] the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. The name of this airport is taken from a lake nearby.
Contents
History
Sentani Airport was a part of the large American facilities at Hollandia (now Jayapura), which was liberated from the Japanese during World War II by an American amphibious task force Code named Operation Reckless on 22 April 1944.[3]
The area was occupied by the Japanese in April 1942, and by 10 October 1943, the Japanese had built a large complex with two runways: a western runway of 4,500 ft and a second southern runway was 6,200 ft x 340 ft. There were 24 larger bomber revetments to the west of the strip, and an additional 27 to the east of the field, connected by taxiways to the two runways. Anti-aircraft defenses included 4 light guns that were later upgraded. The airfields were badly cratered by American bomber raids.
Once controlled by the Americans, the airfields were rebuilt and it became a command and control base with large numbers of operational units flying combat missions with fighters and heavy bombers operating out of the area. The American facilities consisted of three large military airfields: Hollandia, Sentani and Cyclops Airfields.[3]
At the end of the war, Hollandia Airfield was abandoned, and until the early 2010s, it was reclaimed by natural overgrowth. The latest aerial imagery of this area now show a large housing development project underway on the site. Cyclops Airfield, which was a single runway facility to the northeast of Sentani Airfield and originally built by the Japanese, was also abandoned and is now part of the town of Sentani. This field is notable because it functioned as MacArthur's HQ at Hollandia.
Sentani Airfield is the only part of the complex still in use as an airfield today. It is used as the principal entry point into the Indonesian half of the island of Papua.
Major USAAF units stationed at Hollandia
- 308th Bombardment Wing (10 August-22 October 1944)
- 310th Bombardment Wing (6 May-18 September 1944)
- 85th Fighter Wing (24 July-24 October 1944)
- 3d Bombardment Group (12 May-16 November 1944)
- 312th Bombardment Group (June-19 November 1944)
- 49th Fighter Group (17 May-5 June 1944)[3]
- 475th Fighter Group (15 May-14 July 1944)
- 317th Troop Carrier Group (June-17 November 1944)
- 418th Night Fighter Squadron (12 May-28 September 1944)
Facilities
The airport resides at an elevation of 289 feet (88 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 12/30 with an asphalt surface measuring 2,183 by 45 metres (7,162 ft × 148 ft).[1]
Airlines and destinations
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Airlines | Destinations |
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Batik Air | Jakarta-Halim Perdanakusuma, Jakarta–Soekarno–Hatta, Makassar |
Cardig Air | Wamena |
Garuda Indonesia | Biak, Jakarta–Soekarno–Hatta, Manokwari, Merauke, Nabire, Timika |
Lion Air | Jakarta–Soekarno–Hatta, Makassar, Merauke |
Sriwijaya Air | Jakarta–Soekarno–Hatta, Makassar, Timika, Merauke, Biak, Manokwari |
Susi Air | Borme, Dekai, Kasonaweja, Mulia, Sarmi, Senggeh, Wamena |
Trigana Air Service | Oksibil, Wamena |
Wings Air | Nabire, Kaimana, Wamena |
XpressAir | Makassar, Manokwari, Nabire, Kaimana, Sorong, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Wamena |
The airport serves as the main port of entry into the Island of New Guinea. The air traffic is roughly divided between flights connecting to destinations within the Papua province and flights linking Papua to other parts of Indonesia.
Sentani Airport is also the main base for several aviation organizations, including Associated Mission Aviation, Mission Aviation Fellowship, YAYASI and Tariku Aviation.
Airport facility improvements
In October 2012, The Ministry of Transportation announced plans to extend the length of the airport's runway to 3,000 meters, add a parallel taxiway, and to expand the passenger terminal to accommodate jet bridges to board and disembark passengers.[4] As of the end of 2015, the airport incorporates all the aforementioned improvements.
Airport hygiene
Unlike typical airport terminals around the world, Sentani Airport features signs that read "Dilarang makan pinang" (translated, "Consumption of betel nuts is prohibited") posted on walls throughout the terminal. A sight that often attracts the attention of foreign travelers, these were posted in the late 2000s as the airport management's response to the local population's tendencies to chew areca nuts then dispose of red residue (caused by chewing) by spitting on public ground, leaving an ungainly stain on the ground.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Airport information for WAJJ from DAFIF (effective October 2006)
- ↑ Airport information for DJJ at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Ssstt... Dilarang Makan Pinang di Bandara Jayapura
- Other sources
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
- Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
- www.pacificwrecks.com
External links
- Use dmy dates from May 2014
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles containing Indonesian-language text
- Articles using small message boxes
- Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
- Airports in Indonesia
- Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II
- Jayapura
- Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in the South West Pacific Theater