Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Sam Ratulangi International Airport serves Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, and lies close to the northeastern tip of Sulawesi island, not far from the Philippine border. It is the principal air gateway to the Manado area and to Bunaken National Park, and it shares its single long runway with an Indonesian Air Force base and a naval aviation facility.
Sam Ratulangi International Airport (ICAO: WAMM, IATA: MDC) is the main airport serving Manado and the North Sulawesi region of Indonesia. Named after the Minahasan educator and independence figure Gerungan Saul Samuel "Sam" Jacob Ratulangi, it is one of the busier airports in eastern Indonesia and one of only three international airports on Sulawesi. It also acts as the principal access point for visitors travelling to the Bunaken National Park diving area. Alongside its civil role, the field hosts Sam Ratulangi Air Force Base, a Type A Indonesian Air Force installation, and a Type B naval aviation base under the Indonesian Navy's Puspenerbal, with the military facilities sited on the far side of the runway from the passenger terminal.
The airport lies about 13 kilometres northeast of central Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, on the northeastern arm of Sulawesi island. Its position close to the maritime border with the Philippines gives it added strategic significance, which is part of the reason military aviation shares the site alongside civil traffic.
The airport has one physical runway, 18/36, measuring 8,708 feet and surfaced in hard standing (asphalt). Both directions are lit and served by an ILS, making the field usable for larger commercial jet types as well as for VFR traffic in typical daytime conditions.
Manado Approach can be contacted on 119 MHz, with an ATIS broadcast on 126.4 MHz and Manado Info available on 891.8 MHz. The tower operates as Ratulangi Tower on 118.1 MHz. The runway is equipped with an ILS to support instrument approaches.
The airfield's origins trace back to 1938, when the Dutch colonial government built a network of airstrips in North Sulawesi in anticipation of the growing Japanese threat before the Second World War, including fighter airfields at Langowan (Kalawiran) and Mapanget and a seaplane base at Tasuka on Lake Tondano, home to the Netherlands Naval Aviation Service. In December 1941 the Tasuka seaplane base was destroyed by Japanese Zero fighters as part of the opening moves of the invasion of the Dutch East Indies, and despite defence by the Manado Troop Command under Major B. F. A. Schilmoller, both the Langowan and Mapanget airfields fell to Japanese paratroopers on 12 January 1942 during the Battle of Manado. The Japanese subsequently widened and extended the Mapanget runway to support bomber operations against Kendari. Mapanget later became a flashpoint in the 1958 Permesta rebellion, when rebel forces seized the airfield with covert CIA support and used it as the base for the Revolutionary Air Force (AUREV), which at its peak fielded eight to nine fighters flown by American, Philippine and Taiwanese pilots, including the American Allen Pope. AUREV aircraft flying from Mapanget struck Balikpapan, Palu and Ambon before the Indonesian Air Force (AURI) launched retaliatory raids on 15 May and 9 June 1958 under Leo Wattimena, destroying aircraft on the ground including a PBY Catalina. In 1994 the airport was classified as a Class 1B facility and its runway extended to 2,650 metres to accommodate wide-body jet types such as the Airbus A300, A320 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10, around the time management passed to the state enterprise Angkasa Pura I.
Sam Ratulangi Airport now functions as an operational base for Lion Air and Wings Air, with regular domestic services to cities such as Jakarta, Makassar, Surabaya and Denpasar and scheduled international flights to destinations including China and Singapore. It remains a dual-use aerodrome, combining scheduled civil operations with the co-located Sam Ratulangi Air Force Base and a Puspenerbal naval aviation facility.