Sibu Airport

Lapangan Terbang Sibu
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Malaysia
OperatorMalaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
ServesBintangor, Sarikei, Kapit, and Sibu, Sarawak, East Malaysia
LocationSibu, Sarawak, East Malaysia
Time zoneMST (UTC+08:00)
Elevation AMSL122 ft / 37 m
Coordinates02°15′51″N 111°58′57″E / 2.26417°N 111.98250°E / 2.26417; 111.98250
Maps
Sarawak State in Malaysia
Sarawak State in Malaysia
SBW /WBGS is located in Borneo
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS
Location in Sibu, Malaysia
SBW /WBGS is located in East Malaysia
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS (East Malaysia)
SBW /WBGS is located in Malaysia
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS (Malaysia)
SBW /WBGS is located in Southeast Asia
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS (Southeast Asia)
SBW /WBGS is located in Asia
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS
SBW /WBGS (Asia)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
13/31 2,745 9,006 Asphalt
Statistics (2020)
Passenger569,625 (Decrease 67.5%)
Airfreight (tonnes)1,406 (Increase 11.7%)
Aircraft movements7,122 (Decrease 54.5%)
Sources: official web site[1]
AIP Malaysia[2]

Sibu Airport (IATA: SBW, ICAO: WBGS) is an airport located 23 km (14 mi) east south east[2] of Sibu, a town in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. In 2018, the airport handled 1,579,528 passengers on 20,869 flights and also handled 1,443 metric tonnes of cargo.[1] The airport is the 11th busiest airport in Malaysia, and the 3rd busiest in Sarawak in terms of passengers handled.

In April 2009, the airport was given RM 150 million for an upgrade of the terminal building. On 23 September 2010, Sarawak Minister of Finance and Public Health, Dato' Sri Wong Soon Koh had announced that the expansion project would commence.

The upgraded terminal started its operation on 31 July 2012.[3] The airport terminal is the third largest airport terminal in Sarawak after Kuching International Airport and Miri Airport, with a total terminal floor space of 15,240m².[4]

History

1952-1994

The Sibu Airport control tower in 1992.

The first airport in Sibu was built in Teku, during World War II by the Japanese as a basic air strip. However, the airstrip was heavily bombed by Allied Forces. Reconstruction work on the airport began in 1951. Initially, the runway was constructed at 3,600 feet by 150 feet. First plane landed at the airport on 21 May 1952. The airport opened to regular service on 1 July 1952. Malayan Airways did transit flights from Singapore to Kuching, Sibu and stop at Labuan on every Tuesdays. This was followed by transit flights of the same aircraft follow the same route back to Singapore on the next day. Another flight was operated by Douglas Dakota from Singapore to Kuching, Sibu, and stopped at North Borneo on Fridays. The same flight would follow the same route back to Singapore on the next day. The runway was extended to 4,500 feet by 150 feet in 1959.[5]

On 15 August 1990, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules belonging to the Royal Malaysian Air Force skidded off the runway and the aircraft had been written off. It was believed that those on board are part of the royal entourage visit to Sibu.[6]

On 2 September 1992, a Fokker 50 aircraft landing gear failed, causing the aircraft to veer off the runway and into the bushes.[7]

The old airport has been demolished to make way for Laila Taib College (formerly known as UCS-United College of Sarawak) and Tun Zaidi Stadium. The runway of the old airport can still be seen and half of it is used as the connecting road for the stadium.

1994-2010

Interior view of Sibu airport in 2009.

Operation of the new airport officially began on 1 June 1994. The airport is located at 23 km away from the town of Sibu. On 31 May 1994, four Malaysia Airlines aircraft performed inaugural landings. The aircraft were three Fokker 50 and a Boeing 737. The airport was built with a single runway, designated as Runway 13/Runway 31.[8] The runway at that time measured 1,981 m × 45 m (6,499 ft × 148 ft). Runway 13 was equipped with approach lighting system known as "Precision Approach Lighting Category 1", while Runway 31 was equipped with "Simple Approach Lighting System". Airside areas such as taxiways and airport apron are also equipped with lightning systems.[8] The maximum capacity of the parking apron was one Airbus, two Boeing 737-400s, two Fokker 50 and two Twin Otter or similar aircraft. Only Bay 2 and 3 were equipped with aerobridges.[8]

The runway was later extended to 2,745 metres and commissioned for use on 9 May 2006 to accommodate the landing of Airbus.[8]

2010-present

The check-in counters in 2013 after upgrade completion.

In September 2010, an expansion project was underway to upgrade the terminal building and car park with the addition of more aerobridges. This upgrade increases the capacity of the airport into handling 1.9 million passengers annually. The cost of the upgrade was RM130 million.[9] Brand new check-in counters of the airport were opened on 19 December 2011.[10] The upgraded Sibu Airport was inaugurated on 16 September 2012.[11]

On 29 September 2014, a Singaporean training aircraft Beechcraft King Air C90B skidded off the runway during touchdown.[12] No one was injured during the incident. On 8 April 2017, Malaysia Airlines Flight 2718, operated by Boeing 737-800 9M-MXX, overran the runway on landing. The nose gear collapsed. All 67 people on board survived.[13] The incident resulted in Sibu Airport closure until 10 April, and left 1,413 passengers were affected cancellations and delays of flights.[14] The airport was closed on 13 August 2019 to repair faulty lights on the runway. A total of 12 flights operated by MASwings and AirAsia were cancelled.[15] The airport resumed normal operation on the next day.[16]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
AirAsia Johor Bahru,[17] Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuching, Singapore (ends 19 February 2024)[18]
Batik Air Malaysia Kuala Lumpur–International (resumes 7 February 2024)
Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur–International
Malaysia Airlines
operated by MASwings 		Bintulu, Miri, Mukah

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
World Cargo Airlines Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuching

Traffic and statistics

Traffic

Annual passenger numbers and aircraft statistics
Year
Passengers
handled
Passenger
% Change
Cargo
(tonnes)
Cargo
% Change
Aircraft
movements
Aircraft
% Change
1995624,738Steady2,455Steady18,905Steady
1996654,785Increase 4.811,758Decrease 28.3920,243Increase 7.08
1997631,701Decrease 3.531,904Increase 8.3019,551Decrease 3.42
1998555,483Decrease 12.071,499Decrease 21.2717,099Decrease 12.54
1999620,830Increase 11.761,745Increase 16.4116,096Decrease 5.87
2000657,375Increase 5.891,874Increase 7.3915,743Decrease 2.19
2001725,449Increase 10.362,006Increase 7.0416,995Increase 7.95
2002759,704Increase 4.721,916Decrease 4.4917,113Increase 0.69
2003817,687Increase 7.631,701Decrease 11.2216,885Decrease 1.33
2004903,108Increase 10.451,567Decrease 7.8817,650Increase 4.53
2005920,930Increase 1.971,377Decrease 12.1317,330Decrease 1.81
2006898,923Decrease 2.391,040Decrease 24.4715,638Decrease 9.76
2007809,955Decrease 9.90892Decrease 14.2312,536Decrease 19.84
2008831,772Increase 2.70735Decrease 17.5014,672Increase 17.00
2009939,732Increase 12.98856Increase 16.4617,449Increase 18.93
20101,009,002Increase 7.401,133Increase 32.3518,985Increase 8.80
20111,133,903Increase 12.291,153Increase 1.7718,211Decrease 4.08
20121,204,267Increase 6.21,612Increase 39.815,923Decrease 12.56
20131,383,887Increase 14.91,413Decrease 12.317,196Increase 8.0
20141,440,935Increase 4.11,460Increase 3.322,508Increase 30.9
20151,454,360Increase 0.91,304Decrease 10.721,172Increase 5.9
20161,469,341Increase 1.01,048Decrease 19.624,806Increase 14.6
20171,497,412Increase 1.91,285Increase 22.618,598Decrease 25.0
20181,579,528Increase 5.51,443Increase 12.220,869Increase 12.2
20191,750,876Increase 10.91,259Decrease 12.816,748Decrease 19.7
2020569,625Decrease 67.51,406Increase 11.77,122Decrease 54.5
Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad[19]

Statistics

Busiest domestic flight out of Sibu Airport by frequency as of July 2023
RankDestinationsFrequency
(Weekly)		Airlines
1 Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur 46 AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, My Airline
2 Sarawak Kuching, Sarawak 38 AirAsia
3 Sarawak Miri, Sarawak 21 MASwings
4 Sarawak Bintulu, Sarawak 7 MASwings
4 Sabah Kota Kinabalu, Sabah 7 AirAsia
4 Johor Johor Bahru, Johor 7 AirAsia
7 Sarawak Mukah, Sarawak 3 MASwings
Traffic movements between Sibu Airport
FromTo20082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Sibu Kuala Lumpur 167,582 185,734 216,571 227,381 247,624 301,394 309,103 325,257 344,863 359,836 368,803
Kuala Lumpur Sibu 169,787 187,536 218,651 232,530 246,075 300,070 308,265 326,003 345,427 364,552 365,752
Sibu Kuching 35,136 156,361 167,033 206,421 215,094 233,064 239,622 236,735 226,719 232,813 260,446
Kuching Sibu 32,801 153,711 162,872 198,833 216,898 230,304 236,371 238,600 228,843 234,019 259,492
Sibu Miri 31,926 32,177 32,318 4,718 51,570 53,761 58,522 50,756 50,778 45,114 46,510
Miri Sibu 26,028 32,730 32,941 4,443 49,469 52,265 56,179 50,498 51,091 44,648 47,214
Sibu Bintulu 5,402 10,358 12,973 16,888 10,687 10,524 12,192 10,466 10,576 10,570 11,829
Bintulu Sibu 1,263 784 106 12,831 13,881 10,396 11,383 11,568 11,407 10,104 11,274
Sibu KotaKinabalu 18,340 47,365 40,133 38,319 35,227 34,961 35,808 34,993 34,832 31,986 30,497
KotaKinabalu Sibu 28,549 48,234 40,101 42,413 42,690 36,485 38,166 34,826 34,337 33,027 29,674
Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad[20]
Sector traffic movements between Sibu Airport
Sector20082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
Sibu<->KualaLumpur 337,369 373,270 435,222 459,911 493,699 601,464 617,368 651,260 690,290 724,388 734,555
Sibu<->Kuching 67,937 310,072 329,905 405,254 431,992 463,368 475,993 475,335 455,562 466,832 519,938
Sibu<->Miri 57,954 64,907 65,259 9,161 101,039 106,026 114,701 101,254 101,869 89,762 93,724
Sibu<->Bintulu 6,665 11,142 13,079 29,719 24,568 20,920 23,575 22,034 21,983 20,674 23,103
Sibu<->KotaKinabalu 46,889 95,599 80,234 80,732 77,917 71,446 73,974 69,819 69,169 65,013 60,171
Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad[20]

References

  1. 1 2 Sibu Airport, Sarawak at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
  2. 1 2 WBGS – SIBU at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
  3. ↑ New Sibu airport terminal commences operation
  4. ↑ "Tender Briefing for Package Deal (Sarawak)" (PDF). MAHB. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  5. ↑ Ah Chon, Ho. Kuching in Pictures (1950–1959) (PDF). Kuching: Sarawak state library (Pustaka Negeri Sarawak). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  6. ↑ "Saturday 25 August 1990". aviation-safety.net. Archived from the original on 21 August 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "Wednesday 2 September 1992". aviation-safety.net. Archived from the original on 21 August 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Sibu Airport:History". DCA Sarawak. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "No brakes on sibu airport expansion, says Minister". The Borneo Post. 9 April 2011. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  10. ↑ Moh, Jane (20 December 2011). "Sibu Airport new check-in counters in service". Borneo Post. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  11. ↑ Moh, Jane (September 2012). "Najib: Upgraded Sibu airport a promise fulfilled". Borneo Post. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  12. ↑ Banji, Connie (30 September 2014). "Singapore training aircraft skids at Sibu Airport". Borneo Post. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  13. ↑ Hradecky, Simon. "Accident: Malaysia B738 at Sibu on Apr 8th 2017, runway excursion, nose gear collapse". The Aviation Herald. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  14. ↑ Boon, Peter (10 April 2017). "Cancellations, delays affect 1,413 passengers after MH2718 incident". Borneo Post. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  15. ↑ Banji, Conny (13 August 2019). "12 flights at Sibu Airport cancelled, AirAsia states runway lighting failure as cause". The Borneo Post. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  16. ↑ Banji, Conny (14 August 2019). "Sibu Airport resumes normal operations after faulty runway lights repaired". The Borneo Post. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  17. ↑ "AirAsia adds 437 extra flights for Hari Raya | New Straits Times". 3 April 2019.
  18. ↑ "AirAsia to suspend Singapore-Miri and Singapore-Sibu services from 21-Feb-2024". CAPA. Informa Markets. 15 November 2023.
  19. ↑ "Malaysia Airports: Airports Statistics 2018" (PDF). malaysiaairports. 2 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  20. 1 2 "Malaysia Airports Yearly Statistic".
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