Bintulu Airport

Bintulu Airport Lapangan Terbang Bintulu
IATA: BTU ICAO: WBGB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Malaysia
Operator	Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
Serves	Bintulu Division, Sarawak, East Malaysia
Location	Bintulu, Sarawak, East Malaysia
Opened	30 March 2003; 21 years ago (2003-03-30)
Time zone	MST (UTC+08:00)
Elevation AMSL	74 ft / 23 m
Coordinates	03°07′27″N 113°01′11″E / 3.12417°N 113.01972°E / 3.12417; 113.01972
Maps
Sarawak State in Malaysia
BTU /WBGB Location in East Malaysia Show map of East Malaysia BTU /WBGB BTU /WBGB (Borneo) Show map of Borneo BTU /WBGB BTU /WBGB (Malaysia) Show map of Malaysia BTU /WBGB BTU /WBGB (Southeast Asia) Show map of Southeast Asia BTU /WBGB BTU /WBGB (Asia) Show map of Asia
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 17/35 2,745 9,006 Asphalt
Statistics (2023)
Passenger 871,153 ( 20%) Cargo (tonnes) 1,591 ( 9.2%) Aircraft movements 8,665 ( 8.1%)
Source: official website[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.

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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.

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]

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

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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bintulu Airport.

• List of airports in Malaysia

• Bintulu Airport, Sarawak at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
• Accident history for BTU at Aviation Safety Network