Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport

Construction and early history

The airport was built in 1954 by the Central Sulawesi regional government. At the time, the area was still under the jurisdiction of Donggala Regency. It was named Masowu or Masovu, which in the local Kaili language means "dusty." The name reflected the airfield's surroundings, where dust would be stirred up whenever an aircraft landed. The airport was renamed to Mutiara Airport in 1957, meaning "pearl" in Indonesian, during a visit by Indonesia's first president, Sukarno. The name was inspired by Sukarno's observation that the area glistened like a pearl as he landed in Palu.

During the Permesta rebellion in the late 1950s, the airport was captured by Permesta rebels along with the city of Palu. It was recaptured by government forces on 1 April 1958 following a joint operation by the Indonesian Air Force and the Mobile Brigade Corps.

The airport changed hands several times. It was initially managed by the Donggala Regency Government before being transferred to the Indonesian Air Force in 1958 during the height of the Permesta rebellion. Administration was returned to the Donggala Regency Government in 1963, before the airport was officially transferred to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation of the Ministry of Transportation on 28 October 1964. The airport began serving commercial flights to Jakarta via Makassar on 13 October 1964, operated by Garuda Indonesia, making it one of the last two major cities in Sulawesi, along with Kendari, to be connected to the capital.

By the 1970s, the airport's facilities remained very modest. Its runway measured only 1,100 m × 30 m, limiting the types of aircraft it could accommodate to smaller Fokker aircraft. Despite these limitations, the airport was considered crucial, as it was the only airport in Central Sulawesi handling scheduled passenger flights at the time. It had already been designated as a transit hub, with flights to Manado and Balikpapan, while also serving Ambon and Ternate in the Maluku Islands via Manado. These services were operated by Bouraq Indonesian Airlines. The airport also served as a hub for pioneer flights to remote areas of Central Sulawesi, including Toli-Toli and Luwuk, operated by Merpati Nusantara Airlines using DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft.

Contemporary history

In 2010, construction began on a new terminal to replace the old terminal, which had become overcrowded due to increasing passenger numbers. The new terminal, built with a government investment of 139.2 billion rupiah, was officially inaugurated on 13 April 2014, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Central Sulawesi. On the same occasion, the airport was renamed to Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport, in honor of Idrus bin Salim Al-Jufri, a prominent religious leader from Central Sulawesi. He was the founder of Alkhairaat, the largest Islamic community organization in eastern Indonesia based in Palu.

On 28 September 2018, Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport sustained severe damage during the Sulawesi earthquake and was forced to close after large cracks, including one measuring 500 meters long, formed on the runway. Additionally, the airport's control tower collapsed, and its navigation systems suffered extensive damage. Anthonius Gunawan Agung, an air traffic control officer, was directing a Batik Air flight, the last departure of the day, when the earthquake struck. He was fatally injured after falling from the collapsing tower and died hours later. Major structural damage was also reported in the airport, with the roof the airport's terminal reportedly caved in. The airport was reopened for limited operation on 29 September 2018. Due to the damage in the airport, hundreds of passengers were stranded and were told to wait in the airport's apron. Normal operation returned on service on 30 September.

Following the earthquake, the airport terminal was rebuilt and renovated. The reconstruction and renovation works were completed in 2024, with the newly restored airport officially inaugurated by then-President Joko Widodo. The total cost of the reconstruction was approximately 599 billion rupiah.

The airport's status became international on 11 August 2025 and it plans to operate international flights to 28 countries in 2026. The airport's first international flight was inaugurated on 6 August 2026, with a charter service from Palu to Guangzhou, China, operated by Garuda Indonesia. Plans are underway to designate the airport as a Hajj embarkation point, with flights to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, planned to serve Hajj pilgrims.

Facilities and development

The passenger terminal covers an area of 19,000 m² and has a capacity of up to 3 million passengers annually. It is also equipped with three jet bridges. The airport features a modern architectural design and consists of two floors. The check-in hall and baggage claim area are located on the first floor, while the boarding gates and commercial areas are located on the second floor. The airport is equipped with 10 check-in counters and three baggage conveyor belts. With the airport's designation as an international airport, additional facilities were added to support international services, particularly Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ).

On the airside, Mutiara SIS Al-Jufri Airport has a runway that is 2,510 meters long and 45 meters wide, allowing all types of narrow-body aircraft such as Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 to land. The runway extension was completed in 2024, increasing its length from 2,250 metres. The airport’s apron can currently accommodate up to nine narrow-body aircraft. The concrete apron is planned to be widened from 373 metres to 458 metres, adding two additional aircraft parking stands. However, the current apron length of 110 metres is insufficient to accommodate aircraft larger than the Boeing 737-900ER, such as the Airbus A321neo. The runway will also be optimized and extended to 3,000 m to accommodate wide-body aircraft such as the Airbus A330, requiring the acquisition of 36,000 square meters of land.

The airport is planned to become a "smart airport" through the integration of advanced technologies, including U-APOC and digital platforms, to improve operational efficiency and passenger services. One of the main initiatives is Total Airport Management, which integrates airport operations into a centralized system to enable real-time and collaborative decision-making.