Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) traces its origins to 1931, when the Dutch colonial administration cleared a grass airstrip at Tuban in southern Bali. It is the island's only commercial airport. The facility gained ICAO recognition in 1963, and by 1969 a new terminal and a runway extended to 2,700 metres had opened, bringing sustained international service. A further expansion in 1978 produced a dedicated international building, with the earlier structure converted to domestic use. The runway was extended again to 3,000 metres during works completed in the early 1990s, enabling the airport to handle wide-body jets on long-haul routes.

The airport is named after I Gusti Ngurah Rai, a Balinese national hero killed on 20 November 1946 during the Battle of Margarana while resisting Dutch forces. The name carries real weight locally. The most significant physical transformation came in 2013, when a rebuilt international terminal opened ahead of the APEC Summit, incorporating traditional Balinese architectural elements including split candi bentar gates, carved stone, and open-air gardens. The domestic terminal followed with its own renovation in 2014.

Today DPS is Indonesia's second-busiest airport after Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta, handling approximately 23.9 million passengers in 2024. It operates on a single runway designated 09/27 and is a hub for Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air, alongside carriers including Singapore Airlines, AirAsia, Jetstar, Qantas, and Emirates. The airport's east-west orientation and coastal location in Badung Regency, roughly 13 kilometres south of Denpasar, shape the arrival and departure corridors that define the visual character of DPS flight data.