El Tari Airport
El Tari Airport Bandar Udara El Tari | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public / Military | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Indonesia | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | InJourney Airports | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Kupang | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Kupang, Timor, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia | ||||||||||||||
| Operating base for | Wings Air | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | WITA (UTC+08:00) | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 105 m / 345 ft | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 10°10′17″S 123°40′16″E / 10.17139°S 123.67111°E | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2023) | |||||||||||||||
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Source: DGCA | |||||||||||||||
El Tari Airport (IATA: KOE, ICAO: WATT) — formerly Penfui Airport — is a domestic airport in Kupang on the island of Timor in the province of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The airport is named after Elias "El" Tari (1926-1978), an Indonesian Army officer from Savu who also served as the governor of East Nusa Tenggara from 1966 to 1978. The airport's ICAO code was changed from WRKK to WATT in 2004. As of December 2018, there were at least 258 outbound flights per week from the airport.
The airport serves as the main gateway to West Timor and East Nusa Tenggara, offering flights to major Indonesian cities such as Jakarta and Surabaya, as well as inter-provincial routes within East Nusa Tenggara. The airport previously also operated international flights to Dili in East Timor and Darwin in Australia. In addition to serving civilian flights, the airport also functions as a Type A military airbase for the Indonesian Air Force and also as a base for the Indonesian Navy's Naval Aviation Center (Puspenerbal). Its strategic location near the Australian and East Timorese borders makes it a crucial military asset. Plans are underway to establish new squadrons of combat aircraft for the Indonesian Air Force, which will be headquartered in Kupang to enhance border security.