Departure
99%
vs 95% ▲ 4
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
El Tari Airport serves Kupang on the island of Timor, in the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, and doubles as a military airbase for the Indonesian Air Force and Navy. It offers a single long runway suited to airliners and military types alike, and its history stretches back to the colonial era through a pivotal role in the Battle of Timor during the Second World War.
El Tari Airport, known locally as Bandar Udara El Tari, is the principal gateway to West Timor and East Nusa Tenggara, located at Kupang on the island of Timor. It is a joint-use field, handling scheduled civilian traffic alongside operations by the Indonesian Air Force and the Indonesian Navy's Naval Aviation Center (Puspenerbal), which gives it an unusually military character for a airport also serving domestic airline routes. For a simulator pilot, its long single runway, coastal setting near the Australian and East Timorese borders, and layered wartime history make it a distinctive stop in the region.
The airport sits on Timor island in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, close to Kupang town, and lies near the maritime borders with East Timor and Australia, a position that has long given it strategic significance. It shares its airfield infrastructure and surrounding land with the Indonesian Air Force, which restricts room for civilian expansion.
El Tari has a single physical runway, 07/25, measuring 8,189 feet and surfaced in hard standing, with lighting on both directions. There is no ILS approach available.
The airport uses the callsign KUPANG on INFO at 341.6 MHz, and a Tower frequency of 118.3 MHz.
The airfield has operated since 1928 under Dutch colonial administration, when American aviator Lamij Johnson made the first landing there while transiting to Australia; it was originally known as Penfui Airfield, a name derived from Timorese words meaning "corn forest," reflecting the maize fields that once surrounded the site. Between 1939 and 1941 Australian forces upgraded the airfield in anticipation of Japanese expansion into the Dutch East Indies, recognising its strategic value so close to Australia. Australian troops of Sparrow Force arrived at Kupang on 12 December 1941 and were deployed to defend Penfui, which also served as a vital air link between Australia and American forces under Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines. The airfield was bombed by Japanese aircraft on 26 and 30 January 1942, defended by anti-aircraft guns and Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters of the 33rd Pursuit Squadron flying from Darwin. Japanese forces landed at Kupang on 19 February 1942 to open the Battle of Timor, with Type 94 tankettes supporting infantry that overran Dutch positions and attacked the 2/40th Battalion at Penfui; Sparrow Force was ordered to destroy the airfield rather than let it fall intact, but withdrew to Camplong without carrying out the demolition. The Japanese captured the airfield undamaged, quickly repaired it and converted it into a naval air base for the 3rd Naval Air Squadron of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service, using it to launch raids on northern Australia, including the attack on Broome on 3 March 1942 involving nine Zero fighters and a reconnaissance aircraft. Allied forces struck back repeatedly, notably on 2 December when No. 31 Squadron RAAF destroyed eighteen Japanese aircraft on the ground without loss. The Japanese garrison held the airfield until surrendering to Australian forces on 11 September 1945, after which it reverted to Dutch control. Following the Round Table Conference, the airfield was formally handed to the Government of Indonesia on 6 May 1950, and by the 1960s it was handling Garuda Indonesia DC-3 services, with flight operations then managed by the Indonesian Air Force. The airport was renamed in 1988 in honour of Elias "El" Tari, an Indonesian Army officer from Savu who served as governor of East Nusa Tenggara from 1966 to 1978, and its ICAO code changed from WRKK to WATT in 2004.
El Tari continues to function as the main airport for Kupang and West Timor, handling domestic services to major Indonesian cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya as well as inter-provincial routes within East Nusa Tenggara, and it previously supported international flights to Dili and Darwin. It remains a dual-use facility, operating as a Type A military airbase for the Indonesian Air Force and a base for Indonesian Naval Aviation, with the surrounding land largely under military ownership, which limits scope for further civilian expansion.