Kuching International Airport, Kuching

About Kuching International Airport

Kuching International Airport (KIA) is the main airport for Sarawak. It is located 11 km to the south of Kuching. The new terminal building is able to handle up to 5 million passengers per year. In terms of size, it is the third largest airport in Malaysia after KLIA and Kota Kinabalu International Airport. It handled 3.2 million passengers, 39,188 flight, and over 19,000 metric tonnes of cargo in 2008

The Kuching International Airport is served by by Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, SilkAir, Royal Brunei Airlines, Tiger Airways, Jetstar Airways and Batavia Air. Together, these airlines offer direct connection between Kuching and Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Johor Bahru, Labuan, Kota Kinabalu, and cities in Sarawak including Miri, Sibu and Bintulu.

The history of Kuching airport goes back to the years after the Second World War, when the British began to plan an airport for the city. The airport opened on 26 September 1950, making it the air transportation hub for Sarawak. A once weekly flight was inaugurated between Kuching and Singapore. Four years later, the aircraft movements had increased to 1550. The runway was extended in 1959 to 1555 meters, and again in 1962 to 1921 meters. The terminal building was also enlarged that year.

In 1973, another expansion work was carried out so that Kuching airport can take bigger aircrafts such as the Boeing 707. A new terminal building was also constructed on the north side of the runway. The expansion was completed in 1976, with the runway extended to 2454 meters. In 1980, the runway was strengthen for the airport to accept Airbus 300. On 16 January 2006, a new terminal building was open. With the expansion carried out, the Kuching International Airport terminal building is now 46,000 square meters in size. With the expansion, it can now handle Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 aircrafts. As part of the project, the runway was extended from 2454 meters to 3780 meters.

Kuching International Airport Location Map

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Kuching International Airport
Author: Matthew A, Lockhart (cc-by-3.0)

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