page_title: Aviation in Indonesia
section_title: Colonial era
hierarchical_section_title: Aviation in Indonesia / History / Colonial era
caption_attribution_description: English: The first KNILM flight to the airfield Oelin near Bandjermasin, Kalimantan Nederlands: Negatief. Rond 1920 begon men het gebrek aan wegen op Borneo als een probleem te ervaren. Uitbreiding van het wegennet kreeg hoge prioriteit. Als onderdeel van dit programma werd het plaatsje Oelin door een goede weg met Bandjermasin verbonden. Te Oelin landde in 1935 het eerste vliegtuig. Het is de kern van het huidige vliegveld Syamsuddin Nur. Later kwamen er ook vliegvelden te Manggar bij Balikpapan en op het olie-eiland Tarakan. Het werd toen mogelijk om wekelijks van Batavia of Soerabaja naar Bandjermasin, Balikpapan en Tarakan te vliegen. (P. Boomgaard, 2001). Het eerste vliegtuig is geland op Oelin (27 km van Bandjermasin), Borneo
context_page_description: Aviation in Indonesia serves as a critical means of connecting the thousands of islands throughout the archipelago. Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, extending 5,120 kilometres from east to west and 1,760 kilometres from north to south, comprising 13,466 islands, with 922 of those permanently inhabited. With an estimated population of over 255 million people — making it the world's fourth-most-populous country — and also due to the growth of the middle-class, the boom of low-cost carriers in the recent decade, and overall economic growth, many domestic travellers shifted from land and sea transport to faster and more comfortable air travel. Indonesia is widely regarded as an emerging market for air travel in the region. Between 2009 and 2014, the number of Indonesian air passengers increased from 27,421,235 to 94,504,086, an increase of over threefold.
  However, safety issues continue to be a persistent problem in Indonesian aviation. Several accidents have given Indonesia's air transport system the reputation of the least safe in the world.
context_section_description: Aviation service was pioneered in the early 20th century in colonial Dutch East Indies. On 1 October 1924, KLM started its first intercontinental flight, connecting Amsterdam to Batavia (now Jakarta) in a Fokker F-VII airplane. By September 1929 KLM had started regularly scheduled service between Amsterdam and Batavia. The route connected Amsterdam to Marseille, Rome, Brindisi, Athens, Merza Matruh, Cairo, Gaza, Baghdad, Bushire, Lingeh, Ojask, Gwadar, Karachi, Jodhpur, Allahabad, Calcutta, Akyab, Rangoon, Bangkok, Alor Star, Medan, Palembang, and Batavia, and extended to Bandung. Until the outbreak of the Second World War, this was the world's longest-distance scheduled service.
  The Koninklijke Nederlandsch-Indische Luchtvaart Maatschappij (KNILM) — the airline of the former Dutch East Indies — was established on 16 July 1928. Its first regular operations were between Batavia – Bandung, and Batavia – Semarang, starting on 1 November 1928. The inaugural ceremony was held at Cililitan airport in Batavia (now Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport). The Batavia-Semarang flight was later extended to Surabaya. Gradually, the services were expanded to include other islands in the archipelago, namely Palembang and Medan in Sumatra, Balikpapan and Tarakan in Kalimantan, and Denpasar in Bali. Immediately before the Pacific War, KNILM also created a network in the east of the East Indies archipelago, serving towns such as Ambon. For this purpose, amphibious aircraft such as the Sikorsky S-42 and S-43 and the Grumman G-21 seaplanes were used, due to the lack of airstrip facilities in the region.
  As early as 1930, KNILM began its first international flight to Singapore. In June 1937, several cities in the Dutch East Indies were visited by Amelia Earhart during her attempted circumnavigation. From Singapore, Earhart flew to Bandung, Surabaya, and Kupang before continuing her journey to Darwin, Australia. On 3 July 1938, KNILM began operations to Sydney, stopping at Darwin, Cloncurry, and Charleville. KNILM did not fly to the Netherlands, as the Amsterdam-Batavia weekly service was operated by KLM.
  During the Japanese attack of the Dutch East Indies, KNILM was utilized for evacuation flights and transport of troops. KNILM could not operate in East Indies because of World War II and the ensuing Indonesian war for independence, and disbanded completely on 1 August 1947. Its remaining assets were transferred to KLM, which created the KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf (Interinsular Service).
caption: DC-2 at Oelin airport near Banjarmasin in 1935
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