Dr Iqbal Survé and Chloe Maluleke

Jakarta played host to a meeting that could reshape how people and cargo move between Southeast Asia and the Gulf. Indonesia’s Transportation Minister, Dudy Purwagandhi, sat down with his Saudi counterpart, Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, Minister of Transport and Logistics Services, on Monday, and the two walked away with a broad agenda covering planes, ships, trains and the people who run them.

It’s not a new relationship. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have been working together on air links since 1988, when the two countries first signed an Air Transport Agreement. But officials on both sides now say that decades-old foundation is ready for an upgrade, one that stretches well past aviation.

More Airports, More Room to Grow

One of the more concrete outcomes from the meeting is an expanded roster of airports cleared for international flights between the two countries. Yogyakarta and Banda Aceh are now in the mix, joining the existing network of gateways connecting Indonesian travelers to Saudi destinations.

Purwagandhi framed the move as a response to simple demand. Travel between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia has been climbing steadily, and much of that traffic has a religious dimension, Indonesian umrah pilgrims make up a large share of passengers flying the route. That’s part of why one Indonesian carrier has already added more scheduled flights to Jeddah and Medina since December 2025, according to the minister.

Purwagandhi was careful to frame the expansion as a two-way street. He said any growth in flight access needs to come with fair conditions for airlines on both sides, better service standards, and continued adherence to each country’s aviation rules, not a lopsided arrangement that favors one flag carrier over another.

There’s also a symbolic ask tucked into the aviation talks: Indonesia wants Saudi Arabia’s backing for its bid to join the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organistion, with the vote coming up at ICAO’s special session in Montreal this November. Landing a council seat would give Jakarta a stronger voice in shaping global aviation policy, something officials clearly see as worth lobbying hard for.

On the ground in Jakarta, the Saudi side got a small operational win of its own to celebrate too, Indonesia has agreed to shift hajj and umrah flight operations to Terminal 2F at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, a move Purwagandhi said should make the pilgrimage journey smoother for the thousands of travelers who pass through each year.

Beyond the Runway

What makes this round of talks different from routine aviation diplomacy is how much ground it covers outside the airport gates. Indonesia has thrown its support behind a batch of memoranda of understanding Saudi Arabia wants to draft, touching transport safety investigations, maritime shipping, and rail. Purwagandhi says he’s putting a technical team on the case to work through the details without delay.

Rail and maritime cooperation may sound like a footnote next to flashier aviation headlines, but for Indonesia, an archipelago nation where inter-island shipping and rail expansion are constant policy priorities, deeper Saudi involvement in those sectors could open doors for investment and technical know-how the country doesn’t currently have in-house.

Al-Jasser’s Jakarta trip wasn’t limited to Purwagandhi’s office, either. He also met with Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono to talk through infrastructure projects and broader investment opportunities, and toured Jakarta’s mass rapid transit system firsthand, a visit Saudi officials described as a chance to study urban transport models that could inform the Kingdom’s own city-planning ambitions. Yudhoyono, for his part, said he expects the partnership to produce tangible results across aviation, shipping, rail and logistics in the years ahead.

A Bigger Diplomatic Backdrop

None of this is happening in isolation. The transport push follows an agreement last July between President Prabowo Subianto and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, where the two leaders committed to deepening strategic cooperation across several sectors, transport among them.

Human capital is also on the table. Purwagandhi raised the idea of formal workforce exchanges, floating internships and job placements for graduates of Indonesia’s transportation academies at Saudi transport firms, alongside faculty exchanges between the two countries’ training institutions. He pointed to Indonesia’s aviation, maritime, rail and land-transport graduates as a ready talent pool that Saudi companies could tap.

Whether any of this translates into signed deals soon remains to be seen, most of what came out the meeting is intent rather than ink on paper. But between the airport expansions, the ICAO lobbying, and the wider MoU wishlist, both governments have signaled they want this partnership to look a lot bigger a year from now than it does today.

Dr Iqbal Survé is the past chairman of the BRICS Business Council and co-chairman of the BRICS Media Forum and the BRNN.

Chloe Maluleke is the Associate at BRICS+ Consulting Group, Russia & Middle East Specialist.

BRICS+ Consulting Group