Juanda International Airport
Juanda International Airport
Juanda International Airport (IATA: SUB, ICAO: WARR) is a joint-use international airport serving Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. It is located in Sedati District, Sidoarjo. Currently, it is the third busiest airport in Indonesia (after Jakarta's Soekarno–Hatta and Denpasar's Ngurah Rai). It is located approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) from Surabaya city centre and serves the Surabaya metropolitan area, the metropolitan area of Surabaya plus extended urban area. Juanda International Airport is currently operated by InJourney Airports, formerly Angkasa Pura I. The airport takes its name after Djuanda Kartawidjaja (1911–1963), the last Prime Minister of Indonesia who had proposed development of the airport. In 2019, the airport served about 500 aircraft per day. Currently, Juanda International Airport is the hub of Batik Air and Citilink, focus city of Garuda Indonesia, and the operating base of Lion Air and Super Air Jet along with Jakarta's Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. Juanda International Airport will become one of the main airports in Indonesia for ASEAN Open skies. While the commercial operations of the airport are managed by InJourney Airports, the land remains fully owned by the Indonesian Navy, with the passenger terminal functioning as a civil enclave. The airport shares its facilities with Naval Air Station Juanda, a major Class A installation and the headquarters of the Indonesian Navy’s Naval Aviation Center (Puspenerbal).
Location
7.380°S, 112.787°E · 3 m s. n. m. (9 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 8
Tower
Ground
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
Background
The first airport in Surabaya was located in the present-day Darmo area. Darmo Airfield began construction in the early 1920s as part of broader efforts to modernize air transport in the Dutch East Indies. Historical records from colonial civil aviation archives indicate that the airfield was operated by the Koninklijke Nederlandsch Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KNILM) and served as Surabaya’s primary civil aviation hub prior to the Second World War. By the late 1920s, the facility had begun handling intercity routes within Java. Archival documentation compiled by the National Archives of Indonesia (ANRI) also records that Darmo Airfield received international flights. A notable example was the stopover of a KLM Douglas DC-2 aircraft on 10 November 1934, during a long-distance flight from Brisbane, Australia, to London, United Kingdom. As military requirements increased and additional airfields were developed in Surabaya, including Morokrembangan Airfield, aviation activity at Darmo gradually declined. By the early 1940s, it was no longer actively used for civil aviation. Historical urban planning records further note that the former site of Darmo Airfield has since been repurposed and now forms part of the Indonesian Army’s Kodam V/Brawijaya Military Regional Command complex.
Before the opening of Juanda Airport, the Indonesian Navy's Naval Aviation Center was based at Morokrembangan Naval Air Base, located near the Port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya. This base, built in 1922 during the Dutch colonial era, had previously served as a facility for the Netherlands Naval Aviation Service (Marineluchtvaartdienst) of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Following the closure of Darmo Airfield, Morokrembangan expanded beyond its military role to also accommodate passenger flights, becoming Surabaya’s main commercial airport. However, as air traffic increased, Morokrembangan became increasingly congested. The base could not be expanded due to its limited land area and its proximity to the city, which hindered further development.
In the early 1960s, as Operation Trikora was being planned—a military campaign to reclaim Western New Guinea from Dutch control—the Indonesian Navy recognized the need for a new airbase to support the operation and house its aircraft. In response, the Indonesian government approved the construction of the airbase near Surabaya, East Java. Several sites were considered, including Gresik, Raci (Pasuruan), and Sedati (Sidoarjo). After conducting a site survey, Sedati was selected due to its proximity to Surabaya and its expansive, flat terrain, which was ideal for building a large-scale airbase with room for future expansion.
Construction
The construction of the airbase, known as Project Waru, was Indonesia's first airfield development since independence. Prior to this, existing airbases were inherited from the Dutch colonial era and had only been repaired or upgraded. The project was managed by the Waru Project Supervisory Team (TPPW), representing the Indonesian government, and two French companies: Compagnie d'Ingénieurs et Techniciens (CITE) as the consultant and Société de Construction des Batignolles as the contractor. Under the terms of the contract, the project was to be completed in four years, from 1960 to 1964.
To accommodate the construction of a major airbase with a runway measuring 3,000 meters by 45 meters, the Indonesian government acquired about 2,400 hectares of land. This land included a mix of dry land, rice fields, and swampland. A massive volume of construction materials was required, particularly sand and stone. Sand was sourced from the Porong River, while stone was quarried from Mount Pandaan and transported to Waru by hundreds of project trucks. The estimated total volume of materials was around 11.2 million cubic meters, or 1.8 million tons. With project activities carried out around the clock and supported through close coordination among various stakeholders—the Surabaya City Government, the Surabaya Military Command, the Port Authority, and the wider community—the project was ultimately completed ahead of schedule. On 22 September 1963, the runway was declared operational, marking the completion of the project a full seven months ahead of plan. The following day, a flight of four Fairey Gannet aircraft from the Indonesian Navy conducted the first official landing at the still under construction airbase.
During the construction, the project faced a financial crisis. At one point, Batignolles, the contractor, threatened to withdraw from the project, escalating the issue to President Sukarno. In response, Sukarno issued a mandate to Djoeanda Kartawidjaja, who was serving as Prime Minister during the Guided Democracy era. Djoeanda was tasked with resolving the financial crisis and ensuring the successful completion of the project. Djoeanda arrived at the Waru airbase on 15 October 1963 aboard a Convair 990 to oversee the project's continuation. His efforts were instrumental in the completion of the project, and in recognition of his contribution, the airbase was named “Juanda” shortly after his death on 7 November 1963.
Airlines operating here · 24
Airlines using it as a main base (hub)
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Gunawan Kartapranata · CC BY-SA 3.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Juanda International Airport (SUB). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SUB
MLA
“Juanda International Airport (SUB).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SUB. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Juanda International Airport (SUB).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SUB.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Juanda International Airport (SUB). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SUB (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_sub,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Juanda International Airport (SUB)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SUB},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SUB}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/SUB |title=Juanda International Airport (SUB) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}