Old Airport () is an area in

Berakas Mukim Berakas 'A' is a mukim in Brunei-Muara District, Brunei. The population was 27,223 in 2016. Background The mukim and Mukim Berakas 'B' were originally one mukim by the name 'Mukim Berakas' before being split into the current divisions ...

, near the city of

Bandar Seri Begawan Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB; Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان; ) is the capital city of Brunei. It is officially a municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It is part of Brunei-Muara District, the sm ...

, in the Sultanate of

Brunei Darussalam Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by the ...

. It is the common name given to the former site of the original Brunei Airport (hence the name), and is now the location of several

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

offices.

Name

The reason the location is known as the Old Airport is because it is the site of the former Brunei Airport, prior to the establishment of the present-day

Brunei International Airport Brunei International Airport (BIA) (Malay: ''Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Brunei''; Jawi: لاڤڠن تربڠ انتارابڠسا بروني ) is the primary and only airport in the sovereign nation of Brunei Darussalam, on the island of Born ...

(BIA) which opened in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

. The

air traffic control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airsp ...

and other parts of the former Brunei Airport Terminal Building are currently occupied by the Government Printing Department offices.

History

During the

Japanese occupation of British Borneo Before the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, the island of Borneo was divided into five territories. Four of the territories were in the north and under British control – Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, an island, and British North Borneo; w ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the first

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...

was built in Brunei Darussalam. The

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

that were arriving to defend their captured territory then exploited this fledgling aerodrome. Even though the Allied Forces extensively attacked it, those same forces rebuilt and upgraded the runaway after the war, and a proper

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 surface ...

was designed and constructed, and named Brunei Airport. Only in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

, when internal air service linkages were established between ''Pekan Brunei'' (

Brunei Town Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB; Jawi alphabet, Jawi: بندر سري بڬاوان; ) is the capital city of Brunei. It is officially a Municipalities of Brunei, municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It i ...

) and Anduki (which serves the oil town of

Seria Seria () is a town in Belait District, Brunei, about west from the country's capital Bandar Seri Begawan. The total population was 3,625 in 2016. It was where oil was first struck in Brunei in 1929 and has since become a centre for the countr ...

) in the

Belait District Belait District (; Jawi: دأيره بلأيت), or simply Belait (), is the largest as well as the westernmost district in Brunei. It has an area of and the population of 69,062 as of 2016. The administrative town is Kuala Belait, located at ...

, did

commercial aviation Commercial aviation is the part of civil aviation that involves operating aircraft for remuneration or hire, as opposed to private aviation. Definition Commercial aviation is not a rigorously defined category. All commercial air transport and ae ...

in Brunei start. In order to serve passengers from

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capit ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

and

Lutong Lutong is a suburban township in Miri, a city in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. An oil refinery was built in Lutong by Shell Oil Company. Lutong's economy is generated mainly from staff of the oil and gas companies located nearby. Most of the la ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, 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 M ...

, the first

international flight An international flight is a form of commercial flight within civil aviation where the departure and the arrival take place in different countries. Regular international passenger air service began in August 1919 with a flight going from Lond ...

s were operated to the

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 ...

n states of

and

. Around 4,300 people used the Brunei Airport in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, when

Malayan Airways Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

, using British-built de Havilland Rapide aircraft, began operating flights between Brunei Town, Anduki,

Miri ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...

, and Labuan. At that time, the only aircraft that Brunei Airport could handle were the de Havilland Rapide, the

Douglas 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 ...

, and eventually the

Fokker F27 Friendship The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

. All of these aircraft were

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

s with two engines. Shortly after the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

took control of the airport during the Brunei revolt on , soldiers of the 1st Queen's Own Highlanders were unloading supplies from a

Blackburn Beverley The Blackburn B-101 Beverley was a heavy transport aircraft produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Blackburn Aircraft. It was notably the only land-based transport airplane built by Blackburn, a company that otherwise specialised in pr ...

operated by

No. 34 Squadron RAF ("Wolf wishes, wolf flies") , dates=7 Jan 1916 – 25 Sept 19193 Dec 1935 – Feb 19421 Apr 1942 – 15 Oct 19451 Aug 1946 – 31 July 194711 Feb 1949 – 24 June 19521 Aug 1954 – 10 Jan 19581 Oct 1960 – 31 Dec 1967 , country= United ...

. This was followed by several other aircraft, which included

Handley Page Hastings The Handley Page HP.67 Hastings is a retired British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and manufactured by aviation company Handley Page for the Royal Air Force (RAF). Upon its introduction to service during September 1948, ...

Auster AOP.9 The Auster AOP.9 was a British military air observation aircraft ("Air Observation Post") produced by Auster Aircraft Limited to replace the Auster AOP.6. Design and development The Auster AOP.9 was designed as a successor to the Auster AOP.6. ...

, and

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34 (in US service known as Choctaw). It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes ...

. The popularity of air travel significantly increased throughout the 1970s. The former Brunei Airport was overbooked and overrun with traffic. Due to the necessity to accommodate the increasing number of users, the authorities set out to find a new location for the construction of a modern international airport. Construction on the brand-new

, which serves Bruneians in

, started in 1970, and was finished in 1974.

Government offices

The former terminal building of the Brunei Airport has become the office of the Government Printing Department. Its vicinity is also the location of various government buildings which belong to two ministries and several government departments. These include: *

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

* Ministry of Development *Mail Processing Centre *

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...

*Brunei-Muara District Office *Public Service Commission *Department of Electrical Services *Housing Development Department *

Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei The Language and Literature Bureau ( ms, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, DBP) is the Bruneian language authority of the country's official language Malay. It is also the operator of public libraries in the country. It was established in 1960 and i ...

*Information Department *Anti-Corruption Bureau *Agriculture Department *Survey Department *Land Department * Fire and Rescue Department *Government Printing Department

References

External links

Brunei-Muara District Geography of Brunei Defunct airports Airports disestablished in 1974 {{Brunei-geo-stub