Suai Airport , officially Commander in Chief of FALINTIL, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, International Airport ( pt, Aeroporto Internacional Comandante-Chefe das FALINTIL, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, ), and also known as Covalima 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 surface ...
serving
Suai, in
Cova Lima Municipality
Cova Lima (, ) is a municipality of East Timor, in the Southwest part of the country. It has a population of 59,455 (Census 2010) and an area of 1,230 km2. The capital of the municipality is Suai, which lies 136 km from Dili, the ...
,
East Timor
East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...
.
Location
The airport is located east of Suai,
in the southwestern corner of the ''
suco
The administrative posts (former subdistricts) of East Timor are subdivided into 442 ''sucos'' ("villages") and 2,336 ''aldeias'' ("communities").http://www.unmiset.org/legal/RDTL-Law/RDTL-Minist-Orders/Decree-Order-2003-6.pdf
List of sucos by ...
'' of , which is part of the
Suai administrative post
Suai, officially Suai Administrative Post (, ), is an administrative post (and was formerly a subdistrict) in Cova Lima municipality, East Timor. Its seat or administrative centre
An administrative center is a seat of regional administrati ...
.
The airport's runway (16/34) is oriented broadly north-south.
History
As of 1974 and 1975, Transportes Aéreos de Timor
Transportes Aéreos de Timor () or TAT was an airline of the then colony of Portuguese Timor, headquartered in Dili. It operated between 1939 and 1975.
History
TAT was founded as the colony's national airline in July 1939, several years befo ...
(TAT), the national airline of the then Portuguese Timor
Portuguese Timor ( pt, Timor Português) was a colonial possession of Portugal that existed between 1702 and 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies.
The first Europeans to arrive in the ...
, was operating scheduled domestic services from Dili
Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...
to Covalima/Suai.
In April 1983, an Indonesian State-owned airline, Merpati Nusantara Airlines
PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines, operating as Merpati Nusantara Airlines, was an airline in Indonesia based in Central Jakarta, Jakarta. It operated scheduled domestic services to more than 25 destinations in Indonesia, as well as scheduled intern ...
, started operating a Kupang
Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...
–Dili––Covalima/Suai flight. In 1985, that service was being flown twice a week. As of the mid 1990s, Merpati was still flying into Covalima/Suai, and in mid 1999, Merpati was operating one flight a week on a Dili–Covalima/Suai–Kupang routing, using an Indonesian-built CASA turboprop aircraft.
When the Indonesian occupation of East Timor came to an end later that year, the runway at Suai was still only very short. During the ensuing INTERFET
The International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took ...
peacemaking
Peacemaking is practical conflict transformation focused upon establishing equitable power relationships robust enough to forestall future conflict, often including the establishment of means of agreeing on ethical decisions within a community, ...
operation, the 17th Construction Squadron of the Australian Army
The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
upgraded the airport to support all-weather operations by Lockheed C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...
aircraft. The runway was extended by , and a turning node added. Hard stands were provided, along with accommodation, workshops and five helipads.
At around that time, the terminal
Terminal may refer to:
Computing Hardware
* Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together
* Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line
* Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devic ...
was remodelled and fitted with air conditioning.
In the lead-up to the airport's upgrading in the mid 2010s, its runway was an 'all weather' asphalt strip long and wide that could accommodate aircraft as large as a C-130. In general, the airport was for day time use only, but helicopter operations could be supported at night.
East Timor's national Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 identified a need to extend and refurbish the runway and build new modern facilities. After a significant upgrading, the airport in its present form was officially inaugurated on 20 June 2017, and named in honour of East Timorese resistance leader and statesman Xanana Gusmão
José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. A former rebel, he was the third President of the independent East Timor, serving from 2002 to 2007. He then became its fourth prime minister, serving from ...
. The Indonesian State-owned enterprise
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...
PT Waskita Karya carried out the upgrading, at a total cost of .
On 28 September 2018, the airport hosted its first international arrival, a charter flight from Darwin, Australia, operated by Northern Oil & Gas Australia (NOGA).
, the airport was barely being used, and usually had no more than one flight a day.
Facilities
As upgraded, the airport has modern facilities complying with the International Civil Aviation Organization
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sc ...
(ICAO) standards for the safe operation of airplanes, light aircraft and helicopters. The facilities include a runway, a terminal building, a 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 ...
, a fire station
__NOTOC__
A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...
, a meteorological station
A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...
and a helipad
A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft.
While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard s ...
with medevac
Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...
air ambulance facilities.
See also
* List of airports in East Timor
* Transport in East Timor
In East Timor, transportation is reduced due to the nation's poverty, poor transportation infrastructure, and sparse communications networks.
There are no railways in the country. The general condition of the roads is inadequate, and telephone ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
*
Foto: Keren, BUMN RI Ini Sulap Bandara di Timor Leste Jadi Megah
– article with photographs of the airport
{{authority control
Airports in East Timor
Cova Lima Municipality