Bintulu Airport

Lapangan Terbang Bintulu
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Malaysia
OperatorMalaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
ServesBintulu Division, Sarawak, East Malaysia
LocationBintulu, Sarawak, East Malaysia
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)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
17/35 2,745 9,006 Asphalt
Statistics (2020)
Passenger370,437 (Decrease 66.8%)
Airfreight (tonnes)1,378 (Decrease 70.4%)
Aircraft movements6,529 (Decrease 49.4%)
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

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 30th 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

AirlinesDestinations
AirAsia Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuching
Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur–International
MASwings Miri, Mukah, Sibu

Traffic and Statistics

Traffic

Annual passenger numbers and aircraft statistics
Year
Passengers
handled
Passenger
% Change
Cargo
(tonnes)
Cargo
% Change
Aircraft
Movements
Aircraft
% Change
2003427,894Steady940Steady13,627Steady
2004464,576Increase 8.61,375Increase 46.313,546Decrease 0.6
2005487,077Increase 4.82,110Increase 53.413,619Increase 0.5
2006449,673Decrease 7.72,205Increase 4.511,804Decrease 13.3
2007381,158Decrease 15.22,252Increase 2.17,093Decrease 39.9
2008417,918Increase 9.61,978Decrease 12.216,787Increase 136.7
2009487,060Increase 16.51,903Decrease 3.851,009Increase 203.9
2010557,459Increase 14.41,703Decrease 10.524,246Decrease 52.5
2011590,253Increase 5.92,071Increase 21.617,122Decrease 29.4
2012661,553Increase 12.12,574Increase 24.312,294Decrease 28.2
2013779,774Increase 17.92,553Decrease 0.813,661Increase 11.1
2014832,440Increase 6.82,318Decrease 9.212,968Decrease 5.1
2015800,008Decrease 3.92,383Increase 2.812,638Decrease 2.5
2016805,206Increase 0.62,647Increase 11.112,130Decrease 4.0
2017849,596Increase 5.52,211Decrease 16.412,021Decrease 0.9
2018923,033Increase 8.63,566Increase 25.113,062Increase 8.7
20191,114,513Increase 20.74,659Increase 30.712,901Decrease 1.2
2020370,437Decrease 66.81,378Decrease 70.46,529Decrease 49.4
Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad[4]

Statistics

Busiest Domestic Flights Out of Bintulu Airport by Frequency as of December 2019
RankDestinationFrequency
(Weekly)		Airlines
1 Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur 35 AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines
2 Sarawak Kuching, Sarawak 35 AirAsia
3 Sabah Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 14 AirAsia
4 Johor Johor Bahru, Johor 3 AirAsia
5 Sarawak Miri, Sarawak 14 MASwings
6 Sarawak Sibu, Sarawak 14 MASwings
7 Sarawak Mukah, Sarawak 2 MASwings

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.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bintulu Airport.

References

  1. 1 2 Bintulu Airport, Sarawak at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
  2. 1 2 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. ↑ "Malaysia Airports: Airports Statistics 2020" (PDF). Malaysia Airports. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
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