Bintulu Airport (IATA: BTU, ICAO: WBGB) is an airport serving Bintulu, a town in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. The airport is located 5 km (3.1 mi), 23 km (14 mi) by road,[2] 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.[1]

Bintulu Airport

Lapangan Terbang Bintulu
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Malaysia
OperatorMalaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
ServesBintulu Division, Sarawak, East Malaysia
LocationBintulu, Sarawak, East Malaysia
Opened30 March 2003; 21 years ago (2003-03-30)
Time zoneMST (UTC+08:00)
Elevation AMSL74 ft / 23 m
Coordinates03°07′27″N 113°01′11″E / 3.12417°N 113.01972°E / 3.12417; 113.01972
Maps
Sarawak State in Malaysia
Sarawak State in Malaysia
BTU /WBGB is located in East Malaysia
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB
Location in East Malaysia
BTU /WBGB is located in Borneo
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB (Borneo)
BTU /WBGB is located in Malaysia
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB (Malaysia)
BTU /WBGB is located in Southeast Asia
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB (Southeast Asia)
BTU /WBGB is located in Asia
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB
BTU /WBGB (Asia)
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
17/35 2,745 9,006 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Passenger871,153 (Increase 20%)
Cargo (tonnes)1,591 (Decrease 9.2%)
Aircraft movements8,665 (Increase 8.1%)
Source: official website[1]
AIP Malaysia[2]

Bintulu Airport was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad on December 19, 2002.

History

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Old Bintulu Airport building (right) in 1955

The 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's old airport was open for operation on 1 September 1955, with a grass-surface runway catering for de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide and Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer aircraft operated by Borneo Airways.

In 1963, larger types of aircraft such as DC-3 services were introduced. In 1966, the runway was resurfaced with bitumen, and the terminal building was extended to cater for an increasing number of passengers.

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 30 March 2003, when it closed and moved to a location outside of town.[3]

In September 2005, the first low-cost airline in Malaysia, AirAsia, started operating in Bintulu airport. FlyAsianXpress (FAX), a subsidiary company of AirAsia, took over major domestic routes linking Bintulu. It started its operation on 1 August 2006, and lasted until 30 September 2007. On 1 October 2007, Malaysia Airlines subsidiary MASwings took over the link connecting Bintulu.

Airlines and destinations

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AirlinesDestinations
AirAsia Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuching
Batik Air Malaysia Kuala Lumpur–International[4]
Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur–International
MASwings Miri, Mukah, Sibu

Traffic and statistics

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Traffic

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Annual passenger numbers and aircraft statistics
Year
Passengers
handled
Passenger
% change
Cargo
(tonnes)
Cargo
% change
Aircraft
movements
Aircraft
% change
2003 427,894   940   13,627  
2004 464,576   8.6 1,375   46.3 13,546   0.6
2005 487,077   4.8 2,110   53.4 13,619   0.5
2006 449,673   7.7 2,205   4.5 11,804   13.3
2007 381,158   15.2 2,252   2.1 7,093   39.9
2008 417,918   9.6 1,978   12.2 16,787   136.7
2009 487,060   16.5 1,903   3.8 51,009   203.9
2010 557,459   14.4 1,703   10.5 24,246   52.5
2011 590,253   5.9 2,071   21.6 17,122   29.4
2012 661,553   12.1 2,574   24.3 12,294   28.2
2013 779,774   17.9 2,553   0.8 13,661   11.1
2014 832,440   6.8 2,318   9.2 12,968   5.1
2015 800,008   3.9 2,383   2.8 12,638   2.5
2016 805,206   0.6 2,647   11.1 12,130   4.0
2017 849,596   5.5 2,211   16.4 12,021   0.9
2018 923,033   8.6 3,566   25.1 13,062   8.7
2019 1,114,513   20.7 4,659   30.7 12,901   1.2
2020 370,437   66.8 1,378   70.4 6,529   49.4
2021 165,619   55.3 381   72.3 3,520   46.1
2022 725,872   338.3 1,752   359.8 8,013   127.6
2023 871,153   20.0 1,591   9.2 8,665   8.1
Source: Ministry of Transport (Malaysia)[5][6]

Statistics

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Busiest domestic flights out of Bintulu Airport by frequency as of April 2024
Rank Destination Frequency
(weekly)
Airlines
1   Kuala Lumpur 28 AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines
2   Kuching, Sarawak 26 AirAsia
3   Miri, Sarawak 7 MASwings
3   Sibu, Sarawak 7 MASwings
5   Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 5 AirAsia
6   Mukah, Sarawak 2 MASwings

Pan Borneo Highway project

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Bintulu Airport is one of 11 work package contracts (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.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Bintulu Airport, Sarawak at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
  2. ^ a b WBGB - BINTULU Archived 2013-12-28 at the Wayback Machine at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
  3. ^ "Bintulu's new airport to begin operations". The Star. Retrieved 2022-06-07.
  4. ^ Batik Air tawar penerbangan harian Bintulu-Kuala Lumpur mulai Nov: TiongUtusan Borneo, 22 Sep 2024
  5. ^ "Malaysia Airports: Airports Statistics 2018" (PDF). malaysiaairports. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  6. ^ "Statistic of Aviation Transport". MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT MALAYSIA OFFICIAL PORTAL. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
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