Map - Pattimura Airport (Ambon Pattimura Airport)

Pattimura International Airport (Bandar Udara Internasional Pattimura) is an airport in Ambon, Maluku. The airport is located 38 kilometers west of the city of Ambon. The airport was named after Pattimura (1783–1817), an Indonesian national hero who fought against the Dutch colonialists in the nineteenth century. Pattimura Airport is an airport located in Ambon City, Maluku Province, Indonesia. The airport also caters for domestic and overseas trips. The airport is 35 kilometers outside Ambon City with travel time approximately 30–45 minutes. At this airport there are immigration facilities, quarantine, customs, cargo building, restaurant, public phone, and post office. Pattimura Airport Ambon is a very strategic area in the Maluku Islands which is divided into two provinces namely, North Maluku and Maluku. Pattimura Ambon Airport is located in Ambon Island, located in Maluku Province.

The airport was established by the Dutch in 1939 as Laha Airfield. In early February 1942 during WW2, the airport was captured by the Japanese after fierce fighting with Allied defenders during the Dutch East Indies Campaign. Following its capture, Japanese forces executed over 300 Australian and Dutch POWs who had surrendered at the airfield. The base was used extensively by the Japanese through the war. After the independence of Indonesia was proclaimed, Pattimura was used as an air base. This lasted until August 1, 1962, when the government formed a working unit in charge of organizing the civil aviation maintenance and operation of airports for the benefit of civil air transport. Pattimura Airport continued to be operated as an Air Force Air Base. Based on the Joint Decree of the Minister of Defense / Armed Forces Commander, Minister of Transportation and Minister of Finance, in 1975, Pattimura airport was designated as a civilian airfield and came under the full control of the Department of Transportation. On October 11, 1995, the management of the Pattimura Airport was transferred to PT. Angkasa Pura I (Persero), a state-owned enterprises that manages several airports in central and eastern Indonesia.