Angkasa Pura

Banyuwangi International Airport

Banyuwangi International Airport (English: Banyuwangi International Airport) (IATA: BWX, ICAO: WADY (formerly WARB)) is located in Blimbingsari Village, Blimbingsari District, Banyuwangi Regency, East Java. The airport with a 2,250 meter runway was opened on December 29, 2010. The airport is claimed to be the first green airport in Indonesia.

Airports in the Banyuwangi Regency were initially initiated by the Regent of Purnomo Sidik using the one located in Sidomukti Afdeling and Muktisari Afdeling in Glenmore District, a former runway of dragonflies used to spray pesticides into planthopper pests that were built during Regent Djoko Supaat Slamet's 1970s an. The budget for the project was prepared, and building materials had been sent to the location but were not continued because Purnomo Sidik stepped down from his position in connection with the 1998 Banyuwangi Massacre. Subsequent development continued during the leadership of Regent Samsul Hadi. This land in Glenmore Sub-district turned out to be inappropriate for airports because of the mountainous topography of the area. Then, through ministerial decree (Kepmen) number 49 of 2003, the land for the construction of the airport was located in the Blimbingsari Village area which at that time was still part of the Rogojampi District with geographical coordinates 08 18 '42.70 "South Latitude and 114 20' 16.30" Longitude East.

Construction was then constrained by land acquisition which took years to come. In this period, two regents were caught in a corruption case of inflating land prices which cost the country Rp. 40.99 billion. The two regents were Regent Samsul Hadi who caused a loss of Rp. 21.23 billion to the state and Regent Ratna Ani Lestari worth Rp. 19.76 billion. During the period 2004 to 2008, airport construction was carried out in stages with funding coming from the state budget.

On December 29, 2008, Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal made a short visit to Blimbingsari Banyuwangi Airport accompanied by Regent Ratna Ani Lestari and his entourage. In this visit the Minister of Transportation was optimistic that flights in Banyuwangi Regency could develop rapidly with the existence of airports which he said were quite good and ideal. On January 23, 2009, a team from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation conducted an evaluation and verification of Blimbingsari Banyuwangi Airport. Some time later, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued letter number 167 / DBU / II / 2009 dated February 9, 2009 concerning the use of Blimbingsari Banyuwangi Airport, which outlined the contents that the airport could be used to take off and land aircraft of the CASA type. On December 26, 2010 a proving flight was carried out by PT Sky Aviation by the Directorate of Airworthiness and Aircraft Operation as one of the conditions for the holding of commercial flights with the aircraft.

The airport began to be used by Bali International Flight Academy (BIFA) starting April 21, 2009 for the purposes of taking off and landing training for prospective pilots. For commercial flights, it was opened on December 29, 2010 by the airline Sky Aviation after the flight feasibility test was held on December 26, 2010 using the C208 Grand Caravan aircraft. This flight is also a sign of the inauguration of Blimbingsari Airport as a commercial airport. The signing of the inauguration inscription was carried out by Deputy Minister of Environment Bambang Susantono, East Java Governor Soekarwo and Banyuwangi Regent Abdullah Azwar Anas.

This airport changed its name to Banyuwangi Airport in 2017, through the Minister of Transportation Decree Number KP 830 in 2017. On December 22, 2017, the airport was transferred to Angkasa Pura II.

Apart from functioning as a commercial airport, Banyuwangi Airport is also used for flight education purposes. After previously Bali International Flight Academy (BIFA) used this airport, the Ministry of Transportation established the Banyuwangi Flight Training and Education Workshop (LP3B) which was inaugurated on December 23, 2013 which later changed its name to the Banyuwangi Aviator Training and Education Center (BP3B) through RI Minister of Transportation PM / 123/2015. In addition to the two flight schools above, there is Mandiri Utama Flight Academy (MUFA).

At the beginning of its construction, Banyuwangi Airport (at that time still called Blimbingsari Airport) had a runway length of 900 m and a width of 23 m. Then in order to become a commercial airport, the runway was extended to 1,400 m and 30 m wide where construction began in 2008. Two years after operating, the runway was extended to 1,800 m with a thickness of 27 PCN. In 2015, for the development to the international airport and to be able to accommodate larger aircraft, the runway was again extended to 2,250 meters with a thickness of 40 PCN.

In 2015, the Government began building a new, larger terminal. The construction of this new terminal utilizes the East Java Province Regional Budget worth Rp. 22.5 billion and the Banyuwangi Regency Regional Budget worth Rp. 10.5 billion. This budget is used for the construction of terminals, accessories, electrical, musala and parking areas.

This terminal carries the concept of green and environmentally friendly. This is characterized by natural air ventilation, planting of plants on the terminal roof, water conservation and sunroof for natural lighting during the day. In addition, the new terminal adopts the typical Osing Tribe head tie shape. The terminal designed by Andra Matin was inaugurated in 2017.

This airport opens commercial flight services from the airline Sky Aviation on December 29, 2010. The aircraft used is a type of Grand Caravan with a capacity of 9-10 people with the Banyuwangi-Surabaya route. On April 25, 2011, Sky Aviation added a fleet at Banyuwangi Airport with Fokker F50 with a capacity of 48 seats and operating on the same route. Sky Aviation then stopped operating this route on October 20, 2011 because it was unable to compete with other airlines at Banyuwangi Airport.

Merpati Nusantara Airlines had opened the Bandung-Semarang-Surabaya-Banyuwangi route using MA60 aircraft with a capacity of 56 passengers. This round-trip route was inaugurated on August 24, 2011, attended by Regent Abdullah Azwar Anas, Commercial Director of PT. Merpati Nusantara Airlines Tonny Aulia Achmad, representatives of the Banyuwangi Ministry of Transportation and Forkopimda. This route was closed on 9 April 2013 due to financial problems that surrounded the company.

In May 2014, Garuda Indonesia through sub-brand Explore Jet opened the Surabaya-Banyuwangi-Denpasar route using the ATR 72-600 and Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft.

In May 2014, Garuda Indonesia through sub-brand Explore Jet opened the Surabaya-Banyuwangi-Denpasar route using ATR 72-600 aircraft.

Starting in 2017, it is attempted to open the direct Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta route to Banyuwangi. This route was first filled by the NAM Air airline on June 16, 2017 using a Boeing 737-500 with a capacity of 150 seats. In this meeting attended by Tourism Minister Arief Yahya and President Director of Sriwijaya Group Chandra Lie. Then, Garuda Indonesia also filled this route on September 8, 2017 using Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft. The Citilink airline opens this route on February 15, 2018 which serves flights twice a day using Boeing 737-500 and then uses the Airbus A320 on August 9, 2018.

In December 2018, Banyuwangi Airport officially made its first international flight route, namely Banyuwangi - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and vice versa.