Domine Eduard Osok Airport is an airport in Sorong,

Southwest Papua Southwest Papua ( id, Papua Barat Daya) is a province of Indonesia, and is a fraction of Western New Guinea. Despite being named southwest, it is a misnomer and this province is actually located in the northwest edge of Papua. The area that belo ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is one of the largest and busiest airports on the

Bird's Head Peninsula The Bird's Head Peninsula ( Indonesian: ''Kepala Burung'', nl, Vogelkop) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai''), is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesian provinces ...

. It replaced a smaller, former World War II airfield, Jefman Airport on the island of Jefman. The airport is named after Domine Eduard Osok, a pastor originating from Sorong and known for doing missionary works and spreading Christianity in Sorong and the surrounding parts. Domine Eduard Osok Airport serves as an entry point to the

Raja Ampat Islands Raja Ampat, or the ''Four Kings'', is an archipelago located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's Southwest Papua , Southwest Papua province. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and sh ...

, since the Raja Ampat Islands are closer to the city of Sorong than to the provincial capital Manokwari. However, Marinda Airport which is located within the Raja Ampat Islands has started operating, therefore this airport no longer serves as the main entry point. The movement of aircraft in one of the busiest and largest airports on the

is experiencing an average growth of 3.3% annually. Noted, there are more than 9,000 aircraft movements per year. In terms of passengers, the average annual passenger growth reaches 13.2% where in 2014 there are about 500,000 more passengers. For cargo, the average cargo growth per year is quite rapid at around 17.2%. SOQ Susi Air

As an airport feeder, Domine Eduard Osok Airport serves domestic scheduled services operated by several airlines including Garuda Indonesia,

Sriwijaya Air Sriwijaya Air is an Indonesian airline with its headquarters and base located at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten. History In 2003, Sriwijaya Air was founded by Chandra Lie, Hendry Lie, Andi Halim, and Fandy Lingga, ...

and Xpress Air. In addition, the airport also serves pioneer destinations which are operated by

Susi Air PT ASI Pudjiastuti Aviation, operating as Susi Air, is a scheduled and charter airline based in Pangandaran, West Java, Indonesia. Sixty percent of the airline's operation serves commercial regular routes and pioneer routes while the rest is ch ...

to some surrounding areas such as Ayawasi, Inawatan, Teminabuan, and Waisai. With a length of 2,500 meters and 45 meters wide, this airport runway can be landed by aircraft like

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

series and the

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first member of the famil ...

History

Until 2004, Jefman Airport served as the main airport of Sorong. However, that airport was suffering from overcapacity and could not be expanded due to lack of land. Moreover, due to only having a single 1,650 m runway, the airport could only accommodate small aircraft such as the

Fokker 28 The Fokker F28 Fellowship is a twin-engined, short-range jet airliner designed and built by Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. Following the Fokker F27 Friendship, an early and commercially successful turboprop-powered regional airliner, Fokker ...

. Furthermore, to go to Sorong, passengers still needed to travel by boat from the airport which was very time-consuming. To solve this issue, the government decided to build a new airport to replace the obsolete Jefman Airport. Construction was finished in 2004 and Jefman Airport is now closed. In August 2019, the airport was damaged by violent protesters following large-scale protests in Papua.

Development

In 2013, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation allocated IDR 50 billion ($5.1 million) for runway width expansion to 45 meters from the 0 meters. Due to overcapacity, the government has lengthened the runway to 2,500 m from 1,950 m so that the airport can accommodate

and

. Expansion of the airport commenced from 2011 and finished in 2016. The expansion included construction of passenger terminal building into 2 floors, installation of two new jet bridge and fixed bridge, baggage handling system, terminal lift, luggage x-ray and multi view cabin, walk through metal detector, and addition of other facilities such as concession area and interior terminal design update. In that period, the total APBN budget used was about 236 billion rupiah. With the airport built more modern and magnificent, it is expected that air transportation services in the city of Sorong and surrounding areas are increasing. That way, Domine Eduard Osok airport as the gateway of Sorong city can become a booster for Eastern Indonesia to continue growing. The new terminal was inaugurated by President Joko Widodo and Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan, On the other side, the navigation facility will be improved in the future. AirNav Sorong also seeks to optimize the

instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

(ILS) to assist the landing. This would allow aircraft to land at the airport with ease and also allow the airport to serve night flights. AirNav Sorong is also currently installing a billing data system (BDS) and a billing cash system (BCS). The renovation of the air traffic control tower that was damaged due to an earthquake will also be part of the improvement of the airport's navigation system. After the renovation, Domine Eduard Osok Airport is currently the second-largest airport in Indonesian Papua, after Sentani International Airport in Jayapura.

Facility

The exterior of the passenger terminal displays a unique form of ornamentation resembling betel nuts. The architecture design of Domine Eduard Osok Airport is designed to reflect the local culture. In addition, the interior has also been enhanced and equipped with facilities that add passenger comfort. With a passenger terminal building expanded to 13,700 m2, the airport can accommodate 782 passengers daily.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

References

External links

Domine Eduard Osok Airport - Indonesia Airport Global Website
Sorong Airports in Southwest Papua {{SwPapua-geo-stub