Soekarno-Hatta International Airport
Facts on CGK
CGK comes from Cengkareng, the West Jakarta district beside the site; the construction project was called Jakarta International Airport Cengkareng. The airport later took the names of Sukarno and Hatta, but the three letters stayed exactly where they were.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport is named for two men. Sukarno (1901-1970) led Indonesia's independence struggle, spent over a decade in Dutch detention, and with Mohammad Hatta declared independence on 17 August 1945. He became the country's first president and is titled Bapak Proklamator, Father of the Proclamation.
Source: Wikipedia
The other half of the airport's name is Mohammad Hatta (1902-1980), Indonesia's first vice president, was born in Bukittinggi, took a doctorandus in economics at Rotterdam and chaired the nationalist Perhimpoenan Indonesia. Jailed in the Boven Digoel camp for his activism, he was the second signature on the 1945 declaration.
Source: Wikipedia
Sukarno insisted his name should be spelled with a "u", but said school had taught him the Dutch "oe" and after fifty years his signature was too hard to change. The airport still uses the old spelling, Soekarno.
Source: Wikipedia
Terminals 1 and 2 were designed by Paul Andreu, the French architect behind Paris Charles de Gaulle. Their boarding pavilions borrow the stepped pendopo and joglo roofs of Javanese building, with tropical gardens set between the waiting lounges.
Source: Wikipedia
The landscaping won the 1995 Aga Khan Award for Architecture for weaving terminal pavilions into tropical gardens. The idea is described as an airport in a garden; stair rails and gates carry the kala-makara motif taken from temples such as Borobudur.
Source: Wikipedia
Airports Council International counted 49.08 million passengers here in 2023, third in Southeast Asia behind Singapore Changi and Suvarnabhumi. The local operator's own figure was higher, 54.8 million. Jakarta to Singapore is one of the world's busiest international routes.
Source: Wikipedia
A free automated Skytrain runs 3.05 kilometres between Terminals 1, 2 and 3 and the railway station, trains five minutes apart and seven minutes end to end. Terminal 2F has been given over entirely to hajj and umrah flights since 2025.
Source: Wikipedia