Dortheys Hiyo Eluay International Airport

Dortheys Hiyo Eluay International — formerly Sentani Airport, renamed in 2020 for the Papuan independence activist — is the principal gateway to Indonesia's easternmost province and by a wide margin the busiest airport in the Papua region. The 3,000 m (9,842 ft) runway on the shore of Lake Sentani, ringed by the Cyclops Mountains, handles full narrowbody operations and accommodates Garuda 737 and Airbus A320 jets on the long trunk from Jakarta. Annual throughput of roughly 1.5–2M passengers in a region with minimal road network puts it firmly in the global top 534. The route map reflects Papua's isolation: about 9 airlines run 27 routes to 13 destinations (2026), with Garuda, Batik Air, Lion Air, Sriwijaya, and Citilink flying the primary trunks to Makassar, Jakarta, Surabaya, Manado, and Denpasar, while Wings Air, Trigana, and a fleet of mission and freight operators (MAF, AMA, Susi Air) feed the intra-Papua network of short jungle strips. International service is limited; most foreign connections route via Makassar or Jayapura's own regional network to Vanimo (Papua New Guinea). A replacement terminal, opened in 2019, quadrupled passenger-handling capacity and added jet bridges and modern screening. DJJ is a strategic node for Indonesia's eastern logistics, carrying a disproportionate share of freight-to-passenger ratio for an airport its size — villages in the central highlands rely on Sentani-hubbed turboprops for everything from construction materials to foodstuffs. The airport sits beside a former World War II airbase whose taxiway grid is still visible, a reminder of its original strategic significance.