Missing BPS values hinder Komodo Airport tourism analysis

Labuan Bajo — An official table from BPS-Statistics Indonesia for Nusa Tenggara Timur lists monthly airplane passenger data for Komodo Airport in Labuan Bajo, but the extract currently available to this desk does not include the numerical values needed to analyse trends or link airport traffic to marine-tourism demand.

The English-language BPS page titled “Number of Airplane Passengers by Month at Komodo Airport (Labuan Bajo) – Statistical Data” identifies Nusa Tenggara Timur’s provincial statistics office as the publisher and provides institutional contact details for the local BPS office. The Indonesian-language version carries the same title and institutional contacts. Both tables are presented as monthly time series on passengers using Komodo Airport.

According to the BPS listing, the English page was published on 3 February 2025, with a later update recorded in early February 2025. The Indonesian page shows a publication date in March 2025, with an update logged in April 2025. These records establish that BPS treats Komodo Airport passenger movements as official statistics, reported by month.

Limits of the current extract

The extract available for review contains the table title, publication and update dates, and institutional contact information, but not the underlying monthly observations. Without those values, it is not possible to state how many passengers Komodo Airport handled in any given month, how the figures are categorised, or which years and months are covered.

Other publicly available material confirms that Komodo Airport has seen strong growth in passenger movements in recent years. A local news report citing airport spokesperson Marwa notes that the airport handled 983,736 passengers in 2024 and 1,093,100 in 2025, with the highest monthly movement recorded in August 2025 and the lowest in February 2025. The same reporting breaks down totals into arriving and departing passengers and distinguishes domestic from international traffic. However, those figures come from airport operational records and not from the BPS monthly table extract at issue.

Additional tourism reports from the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority show comparative charts of Komodo Airport passengers for January–June 2024 versus 2025, including absolute and percentage changes, and year-round comparisons for 2024 and 2025. These documents further indicate that domestic passengers dominate airport movements, with international arrivals forming a smaller share. Again, they do not substitute for the missing BPS table values.

Using airport data in tourism analysis

Passenger counts alone do not show how many visitors boarded boats, entered Komodo National Park or joined specific marine excursions. Airport statistics can include residents, workers, transit passengers and other non-tourist travellers unless the definitions explicitly distinguish tourists from other categories. A proxy developed by the Labuan Bajo Flores Authority, for example, separates estimated tourists from non-tourists within total Komodo Airport arrivals for a given month. That method highlights the need for clear definitions when using airport data to infer tourism pressure.

Any analysis that seeks to relate Komodo Airport movements to marine-tourism demand should therefore rely on the actual categories and periods displayed in the BPS table, combined with compatible records such as Komodo National Park entry statistics and data from port authorities or excursion operators. It should also specify whether the figures track passengers, movements, or another statistical unit, and whether they distinguish arrivals from departures and domestic from international travellers.

While the existence and timing of the BPS Komodo Airport passenger table are confirmed, the absence of the monthly values in the current extract means no responsible conclusion can be drawn from this material alone about growth rates or the relationship between airport traffic and boat demand. Until the underlying BPS rows are accessed and cross-checked against independent tourism and marine data, any claimed link between Komodo Airport passenger trends and visitor pressure on the surrounding seas remains unverified.

Sources

• BPS-Statistics Indonesia NTT – Number of Airplane Passengers by Month at Komodo Airport (Labuan Bajo)
• Labuan Bajo Flores Authority – Occupancy Rate 2025 (Komodo Airport arrival proxy)
• Komodo International Airport – annual passenger statistics (Wikipedia summary citing DGCA and BPS)
• Detik – Komodo Airport handles almost 1 million passengers in 2024
• The Star – Caution roars loud in a land of dragons
• Labuan Bajo Today – Komodo Airport gets busier as Labuan Bajo grows in popularity