What happened
On Friday, 9 October 2026, Commission V of Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR RI) held a working visit in Labuan Bajo. The town sits in West Manggarai regency in East Nusa Tenggara province (NTT) and is the gateway to Komodo National Park. Commission V oversees infrastructure and transport.
The focus was Komodo International Airport. Hills stand beyond the ends of its runway, and lawmakers see them as obstacles that endanger flights, above all by larger jets. The commission is pushing for a cut and fill operation, which means removing earth from the high ground and levelling the area.
What the commission chair said
Commission chair Lasarus, a lawmaker from PDI-P (the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle), spoke after meeting ministries and agencies that work with the commission. He said obstacles exist at both ends of the runway and that this is a danger to aviation.
According to Lasarus, the work will need roughly Rp60 billion. He described it as a priority and said flight safety is not something to haggle over. He did not give a timeline or say where the money would come from.
NTT governor Melki Laka Lena joined the visit.
Terminal, runway and cargo
The meeting also covered the terminal. At present, international and domestic passengers use the same building, with the two zones separated only by partitions, according to the airport chief.
West Manggarai regent Edistasius Endi added his own requests. He wants the runway widened so that the airport can take large aircraft from abroad, and he is calling for a cargo facility to be built.
The airport's response
Ceppy Triono heads the Komodo office of UPBU, the airport operating unit that reports to the transport ministry. He said his team would act on the commission's recommendations.
Triono explained that cutting the hills is meant to let larger aircraft use the airport.
Why the hills matter
Every runway has protected zones that must stay clear of obstacles, because aircraft descend through them on approach and climb through them after take-off. A hill inside such a zone forces limits on aircraft weight or type, or changes to the approach procedure. Larger jets with flatter flight paths feel those limits most.
Cutting the hills does not lengthen the runway, but it opens it to heavier aircraft, which is the point the airport chief made. Widening the runway, as the regent wants, would be a separate project whose price was not disclosed.
Labuan Bajo has long been one of the tourism destinations Jakarta treats as a development priority.
What it means for Bali
Labuan Bajo and Bali share a tourist route: many travellers combine a Komodo trip with a stay on Bali and fly via Denpasar airport. Bali itself is not mentioned in the detikBali report.
All the measures discussed remain recommendations and requests: cutting the hills, developing the terminal, widening the runway and building a cargo facility. The airport operator promised to act on the commission's recommendations, but the report mentions no budget decision or schedule.
Komodo airport is run by a transport ministry unit, so funding for the work depends on decisions at national level, not only on the regency and provincial authorities.