Bintulu Airport is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

serving

Bintulu Bintulu is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. Bintulu is located 610 kilometres (380 mi) northeast of Kuching, 216 kilometres (134 mi) northeast of Sibu, and 200 kilometres (120 mi) ...

, a town in the state of

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. The airport is located , by road, southwest of the city, and although small, it is able to handle planes as large as a Boeing 747. In 2008, the airport handled 417,918 passengers and 16,787 aircraft movements.

History

History of Bintulu airport began in early 1937 when the British colony built an airfield situated between a river at one end and the sea coast at the other end. Bintulu old airport was open for operation on 1 September 1955, with a grass-surface runway catering for

de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its rela ...

and Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer aircraft operated by

Borneo Airways Borneo Airways Limited also known as Borneo Airways ( ms, Sharikat Penerbangan Borneo), was the flag carrier and the principal domestic airline in British Borneo (later constituting the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak and the country ...

. In 1963, bigger types of aircraft such as

DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

services were introduced. In 1966, the runway was resurfaced with bitumen and the terminal building was also extended to cater for increasing number of passenger. On 1 July 1968, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines introduced scheduled Fokker 27 services into Bintulu. The terminal building and the parking apron was extended in 1981 to accommodate Fokker 50 aircraft. The old airport served the town until 30th March 2003 when it closed and moved to a location outside of town. In September 2005, first low-cost airline in Malaysia, AirAsia started operating in Bintulu airport.

FlyAsianXpress AirAsia X (previously known as ''FlyAsianXpress Sdn. Bhd.''), is a long-haul budget airline based in Malaysia, and a sister company of AirAsia. It commenced operations on 2 November 2007 with its first service flown from Kuala Lumpur Internatio ...

(FAX), subsidiary company for AirAsia has taken over major domestic routes linking

, started its operation on 1 August 2006, until 30 September 2007. On 1 October 2007,

Malaysia Airlines Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB; ms, Penerbangan Malaysia Berhad), formerly known as Malaysian Airline System (MAS; ), and branded as Malaysia Airlines, is the flag carrier airline of Malaysia and a member of the Oneworld airline alliance. (Th ...

subsidiary, MASwings took over the link connecting Bintulu.

Airlines and destinations

Traffic and Statistics

Traffic

Statistics

Pan Borneo Highway project

Bintulu Airport is one of 11 work package contract (WPCs) as its junction will be part of it. It was conducted by Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd (LBU) as turnkey contractor and was taken by KKBWCT Joint Venture Sdn Bhd to Sungai Arip in Sibu and Pekerjaan Piasau Konkerit Sdn Bhd (PPK) to Sungai Tangap in Miri, as it shows: 1. WPC 09 - Sg. Arip Bridge to Bintulu Airoprt Junction - KKBWCT Joint Venture Sdn Bhd.
2. WPC 10 - Bintulu Airport Junction - Sg. Tangap - Pekerjaan Piasau Konkerit Sdn Bhd.

References

External links

Bintulu Airport, Sarawak
at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad * {{authority control Airports in Sarawak Bintulu District