Formerly known as Branti Airport—named after the village where it is located—the facility was originally built by
Japanese forces in 1942 during the
occupation of the Dutch East Indies, as part of their military operations in
World War II against the
Allied forces. It served as a base for various Japanese aircraft and warplanes. After Indonesia
declared its independence, the airport was taken over by the
Indonesian Air Force and used exclusively for military purposes, without any commercial flight operations. In 1955, the airport's management was transferred to the
Directorate General of Civil Aviation after the Air Force relocated its base to
Astra Ksetra Air Force Base in
Menggala,
North Lampung Regency. Commercial flights began in 1956 when
Garuda Indonesia launched its first route between
Jakarta and
Bandar Lampung. In 1963, ownership of Branti Airport was officially transferred to the regional government of Lampung, which in turn handed it over to the
Ministry of Transportation in 1964. In 2016, a major expansion project was undertaken at the airport to accommodate the growing volume of passenger and air traffic. This included the construction of a larger passenger terminal and its relevant infrastructures as well as a new four-story parking building. The expansion was completed in 2019 and was inaugurated by then-President
Joko Widodo on February 6, 2019. The total cost of the airport's expansion and development amounted to approximately 467.6 billion rupiah. In the same year, the management of the airport was transferred from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to
Angkasa Pura II, which is now known as
InJourney Airports.
International era (2019–2024, 2025–present) In 2019, the airport was designated as an international airport, with its first international flight launched on May 4, 2019—a route to
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, operated by
Citilink. However, the service was discontinued shortly afterward. The airport was originally intended to serve as a Hajj embarkation point, offering seasonal flights to
Jeddah for pilgrims traveling to
Mecca. Despite this, there have been no regular international flights since 2019, and on April 2, 2024, the Ministry of Transportation officially revoked the airport's international status due to the absence of active international services, although it stated that the airport could still be used for Hajj operations if necessary. == Facilities and development ==