Indonesia Pushes Six Regional Airports Into the China Market
Indonesia's international air connectivity push is moving beyond its two dominant hubs. State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia, trading under the InJourney Airports brand, used the 17th ASEAN-China Working Group on Regional Air Services Arrangements (ACWG-RASA) in Yogyakarta to pitch six regional airports as viable gateways for direct China flights. The forum, hosted by Indonesia's Transportation Ministry, drew 61 government delegates from ASEAN member states and China, plus 127 representatives from airlines, airport operators, and aviation associations.
The Six Airports on the Table
The airports InJourney Airports presented to delegates and carriers are:
- Yogyakarta International Airport, Yogyakarta
- Zainuddin Abdul Madjid International Airport, Lombok
- Minangkabau International Airport, Padang
- Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport, Palembang
- Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport, Makassar
- Sam Ratulangi International Airport, Manado
Each of these sits at the centre of a wider local airport network. InJourney Airports noted that secondary airports in Kendari, Palu, Gorontalo, Ternate, Ambon, Sorong, Timika, Jayapura, Kupang, and Labuan Bajo are integrated with these six hubs, meaning any new direct China route would extend its reach across a much larger slice of the archipelago.
The Demand Numbers Behind the Strategy
According to Tempo, which first reported the story, InJourney Airports Commercial Director Veri Y. Setiady cited indirect passenger traffic data from throughout 2025 to make the case. Java recorded roughly 992,000 Chinese transit passengers; Bali and Nusa Tenggara followed with approximately 525,000; and Sumatra added around 169,000. Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua showed smaller but consistent growth.
Those figures sit inside a broader recovery story. By December 2025, Indonesia had received 40.9 million international passengers, a recovery rate of 110 percent against pre-pandemic levels. The Asian market accounts for 67 percent of that total, and China is identified as one of the primary growth drivers.
President Director Mohammad R. Pahlevi framed the forum as a chance to showcase each airport's competitive advantages, while Setiady was direct about the strategic shift: flight demand from China is no longer concentrated only in Jakarta and Bali, and the company intends to build direct connectivity that reflects where travellers actually want to go.
InJourney Airports describes itself as the world's fifth-largest airport operator, managing 37 airports and serving 162 million passengers.
Why It Matters for Hosts
For independent accommodation and experience operators in Yogyakarta, Lombok, Makassar, Manado, Padang, and Palembang, this is a concrete signal that direct inbound traffic from China could arrive at their doorstep rather than filtering through Jakarta or Bali first. The practical step is to audit how visible your property or experience is to Chinese-speaking travellers right now: check whether your listings carry Mandarin descriptions, whether your photos meet the expectations of that market, and whether your pricing is displayed in a currency-friendly format. Waiting until routes are confirmed means missing the lead time needed to build reviews and ranking before the first direct flights land.
Details in this post were first reported by Tempo.
First reported by en.tempo.co.