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Bintulu Airport

Coordinates: 03°07′27″N 113°01′11″E / 3.12417°N 113.01972°E / 3.12417; 113.01972
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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 web site[1]
AIP Malaysia[2]

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

History

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Old Bintulu Airport building (right) in 1955.

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 and Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer aircraft operated by Borneo Airways.

In 1963, bigger types of aircraft such as DC-3 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 30 March 2003 when it closed and moved to a location outside of town.[3]

In September 2005, first low-cost airline in Malaysia, AirAsia started operating in Bintulu airport. FlyAsianXpress (FAX), subsidiary company for AirAsia has taken over major domestic routes linking Bintulu, started its operation on 1 August 2006, 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 Steady 940 Steady 13,627 Steady
2004 464,576 Increase 8.6 1,375 Increase 46.3 13,546 Decrease 0.6
2005 487,077 Increase 4.8 2,110 Increase 53.4 13,619 Increase 0.5
2006 449,673 Decrease 7.7 2,205 Increase 4.5 11,804 Decrease 13.3
2007 381,158 Decrease 15.2 2,252 Increase 2.1 7,093 Decrease 39.9
2008 417,918 Increase 9.6 1,978 Decrease 12.2 16,787 Increase 136.7
2009 487,060 Increase 16.5 1,903 Decrease 3.8 51,009 Increase 203.9
2010 557,459 Increase 14.4 1,703 Decrease 10.5 24,246 Decrease 52.5
2011 590,253 Increase 5.9 2,071 Increase 21.6 17,122 Decrease 29.4
2012 661,553 Increase 12.1 2,574 Increase 24.3 12,294 Decrease 28.2
2013 779,774 Increase 17.9 2,553 Decrease 0.8 13,661 Increase 11.1
2014 832,440 Increase 6.8 2,318 Decrease 9.2 12,968 Decrease 5.1
2015 800,008 Decrease 3.9 2,383 Increase 2.8 12,638 Decrease 2.5
2016 805,206 Increase 0.6 2,647 Increase 11.1 12,130 Decrease 4.0
2017 849,596 Increase 5.5 2,211 Decrease 16.4 12,021 Decrease 0.9
2018 923,033 Increase 8.6 3,566 Increase 25.1 13,062 Increase 8.7
2019 1,114,513 Increase 20.7 4,659 Increase 30.7 12,901 Decrease 1.2
2020 370,437 Decrease 66.8 1,378 Decrease 70.4 6,529 Decrease 49.4
2021 165,619 Decrease 55.3 381 Decrease 72.3 3,520 Decrease 46.1
2022 725,872 Increase 338.3 1,752 Increase 359.8 8,013 Increase 127.6
2023 871,153 Increase 20.0 1,591 Decrease 9.2 8,665 Increase 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 Kuala Lumpur 28 AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines
2 Sarawak Kuching, Sarawak 26 AirAsia
3 Sarawak Miri, Sarawak 7 MASwings
3 Sarawak Sibu, Sarawak 7 MASwings
5 Sabah Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 5 AirAsia
6 Sarawak Mukah, Sarawak 2 MASwings

Pan Borneo Highway project

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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.

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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