International travellers are advised to leave plenty of time to get to the airport, but even the most conservative estimates should probably add two hours’ travel time. Jakarta’s traffic jams are notorious and panicked travellers dashing to catch their flight from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport will most likely face long queues and an airport that is almost at capacity.
The risk of missing flights and an inability to reliably plan a schedule are just some of the downsides of doing business in Indonesia, and seem a world away from the convenience of neighbouring Singapore. A 2011 Standard Chartered report estimated that the capacity of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport is less than a third of Singapore’s Changi Airport. Such a situation is symptomatic of an emerging market whose economic growth has outpaced the development of its infrastructure.