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.
Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?
The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
If you're flying somewhere, use our Flight Checker to compare the rates from different airlines. To use it, enter where you will be flying from, where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
AsiaExplorers is researched and written by Timothy Tye. Reasonable care is taken to check and verify the accuracy of the content. AsiaExplorers disclaims responsibility for any inconvenience, mishap, injury or death resulting from following the tips and advice provided directly or indirectly by this website. All pages may be printed out for your own personal, non-commercial use. You may use the information on this website on your blog or website so long as you place a dofollow link back to the page in AsiaExplorers where it appears. Photographs not credited to a third party belong to Timothy Tye and may not be reused in any form unless you are first given permission. Write in to inquire if interested. Third party photographs are governed by their respective licenses. To contact Tim, write to the following email address:
