Cilacap Tunggul Wulung Airport (CXP/WIHL) was a very quiet airport until a few years ago when flying schools began to move there to get away from crowded Halim Airport in Jakarta and then Susi Air started flying there regularly. As it’s small apron gets busier with more and more training aircraft based there, today, the airport turned into a high security airshow.

CilacapAirport-Bali9
The scene at Cilacap airport as 2 of the Bali 9 arrived amidst heightened security. (Source: Winaldi Wijaya Panai)

The Wings Air ATR72 flew in carrying 2 Australians awaiting execution, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukuramaran, from Bali on their way to Nusakambangan island. The ATR flew escorted by fighter jets, evident by the F-16 flying overhead as the two were about to be disembarked from the airplane. Visible on the grass are two NBell 412 from the military, and 2 armoured cars from the police. Another ATR72 is also seen, belonging to Pelita Air Service, whose purpose of its presence is unknown if it is related to the executions.

I guess there are no training flights out of Cilacap for today.

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