Colonial era

Formerly, the area in Tjililitan where Halim Perdanakusuma Airport is now located was owned by a Dutchman named Pieter van der Velde. The estate, known as Tandjoeng Ost, was originally used as a rubber plantation. Part of the plantation was later transferred to the government of the Dutch East Indies for the construction of an airfield.

Halim Perdanakusuma Airport is the first airfield in the city of Jakarta, which was formerly known as Batavia. It was built around 1924 and was originally named Tjililitan Airfield (Dutch: Vliegveld Tjililitan), after its borough. On November 1, 1928, Tjililitan airfield began operations under a Dutch airline in the Dutch East Indies, the Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KNILM), which served routes from Batavia to Bandung, as well as from Batavia to Semarang and Surabaya. A year later, the name Tjililitan Air Base gained international recognition after the Dutch airline KLM set a record for intercontinental flight using a Fokker F.VII aircraft. The flight covered a distance of 14,500 km from the Netherlands to Batavia in 10 days, carrying only four passengers. In addition to its role as a civilian airfield, it also served as a base for the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force (ML-KNIL). When the Pacific Theater of World War II broke out in 1941, the airfield became home to Air Group III (vliegtuiggroep), which consisted of three divisions (afdelingen). Each division was equipped with nine Martin B-10 bombers, plus two additional aircraft held in reserve as spares. In preparation for the Japanese attack on the Dutch East Indies, the airfield was expanded to accommodate additional military aircraft.

On 25 February 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched an air raid on Batavia, with Tjililitan Airfield as one of its targets. At the time, eight Hawker Hurricanes from No. 605 Squadron RAuxAF and No. 242 Squadron RAF were stationed at the airfield to defend the city. On the ground, the airfield was protected by units of the British Army and the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL). Elements of the KNIL’s A. I Ld. section and the British Army’s 242 Battery (48th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment) operated a combined anti-aircraft defence consisting of two 2 cm and eight 4 cm guns. During the attack, they engaged approximately eight Japanese aircraft (likely a mix of Navy fighters and a C5M reconnaissance aircraft) that were involved in the raid. In addition, British troops used Bren guns to fire at low-flying aircraft conducting strafing runs against anti-aircraft positions along the airfield perimeter. According to reports, two Japanese fighters were hit by fire from 242 Battery personnel. One British soldier, firing from a trench with his rifle, was struck in the head by machine-gun fire and killed, becoming the only recorded casualty of the attack. Eventually, the aircraft were withdrawn to Bandung after Batavia was declared an open city. Despite initially fierce resistance, the airfield was soon overrun by Japanese forces.

During the Japanese occupation (1942–1945), the airfield was seized by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and repurposed as a military base. Numerous Japanese aircraft, particularly Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters, operated from Tjililitan in support of Pacific War operations against Allied forces.

After Japan’s surrender in 1945, control of the airfield was transferred back to returning Dutch authorities, who subsequently rebuilt and reactivated it. The airfield then reverted to its original function as a base for the ML-KNIL throughout the Indonesian National Revolution. During this period, it served as a staging area for Dutch military operations against Indonesian forces, including Operation Kraai. Between 1946 and 1948, the airfield has been associated in some historical accounts with incidents of extrajudicial violence, in which elements of indigenous KNIL units were reportedly involved in the killing of civilians in the surrounding area, allegedly under orders from their Dutch superiors.

Post-independence era

On June 20, 1950, the Netherlands officially handed over the air base to the Indonesian government. It was subsequently taken over by the Indonesian Air Force (AURI) and designated as a military air base under the 1st Air Force Operations Command. Several facilities were transferred to the Air Force Chief of Staff at the time, Soerjadi Soerjadarma, including buildings, hangars, offices, warehouses, housing, and a hospital, along with two air squadrons—20th Squadron and 18th Bomber Squadron. Three former ML-KNIL hangars were repurposed to house 17th Air Squadron, 31st Air Squadron, and 21st Technical Squadron. On August 17, 1952, Tjililitan Air Base was officially renamed Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in honor of Abdul Halim Perdanakusuma, an Indonesian Air Force officer and airman who died in the line of duty during the Indonesian National Revolution and was later recognized as a national hero of Indonesia.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the airfield continued to serve as a base of the Indonesian Air Force.