Mangun Jaya, ID 🇮🇩 Closed Airport
ID-0322
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76 ft
ID-SS
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: -2.73333° N, 103.567001° E
Continent: AS
Type: Closed Airport
Keywords: MJY MJY ID-MJY
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The exact date is not officially recorded, but the airport is believed to have ceased operations gradually and was fully abandoned by the late 1980s or early 1990s. It has been listed as 'closed' in aviation databases for several decades.
The closure was primarily due to economic and logistical factors. The airstrip was a private, pioneer field likely built to support oil and gas exploration. Its closure can be attributed to a combination of:
1. **Improved Ground Infrastructure:** The development and improvement of the road network in the Musi Banyuasin Regency made ground transportation more cost-effective and reliable for moving personnel and supplies, rendering the airstrip redundant.
2. **Shifting Operational Needs:** The oil company that operated the field (likely PT Stanvac Indonesia) may have scaled down, shifted its operational focus, or ceased activities in the immediate vicinity, eliminating the need for a dedicated airstrip.
3. **Consolidation of Air Services:** Air logistics were likely consolidated at larger, better-equipped regional airports, such as Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport (PLM) in Palembang, with helicopters or vehicles used for the final leg to remote sites.
The airport is completely abandoned and non-operational. Satellite imagery of the coordinates shows the faint, overgrown outline of a single runway. The land has been reclaimed by the surrounding environment and is now part of a large palm oil plantation. There are no remaining airport buildings, navigation aids, or infrastructure. The site is inaccessible as an airfield and is effectively just agricultural land.
Mangun Jaya Airport was a private, utilitarian airstrip with no scheduled commercial passenger service. Its significance was purely logistical:
- **Corporate Airfield:** It was part of a network of small airfields built and operated by oil and gas companies in Sumatra during the mid-20th century to overcome the lack of road infrastructure.
- **Logistical Hub:** It served as a vital link for transporting company personnel, essential supplies, light equipment, and for medical evacuations between remote drilling/production sites and regional headquarters.
- **Aircraft Operations:** The airfield was designed for STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) aircraft capable of operating from short, often unpaved runways. Typical aircraft would have included the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, Britten-Norman Islander, and other similar small propeller-driven planes.
There are no known or credible plans to reopen Mangun Jaya Airport. The original purpose for its existence no longer applies due to the extensive road network in the region. The cost to clear the land, rebuild a runway, and construct modern facilities would be substantial and without any clear economic justification. Any future aviation needs for the area would be met by existing regional airports.
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