Miri Airport

Miri Airport
Lapangan Terbang Miri
IATA: MYYICAO: WBGR
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Government of Malaysia
Operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
Serves Miri, Sarawak
Location Miri, Sarawak
Hub for MASwings, Awan Inspirasi
Time zone MST (UTC+08:00)
Elevation AMSL 59 ft / 18 m
Coordinates 04°19′31″N 113°59′18″E / 4.32528°N 113.98833°E / 4.32528; 113.98833Coordinates: 04°19′31″N 113°59′18″E / 4.32528°N 113.98833°E / 4.32528; 113.98833
Map
MYY

Location in East Malaysia

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
02/20 2,745 9,006 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passenger 2,249,206 (Decrease 4.8%)
Airfreight (tonnes) 7,292 (Decrease 9.2%)
Aircraft movements 47,733 (Decrease 3.0%)
Sources: Official web site[1]
AIP Malaysia[2]

Miri Airport (IATA: MYY, ICAO: WBGR) is an airport located 9.5 km (5.9 mi) south east[2] of Miri, a city in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. The airport is the sixth busiest airport in Malaysia, and the second busiest in Sarawak.

Miri Airport is a major hub for MASWings which took over most of the mainly rural domestic services from FlyAsianXpress. The location in the middle of Malaysian Borneo and close to the border of Brunei makes it a suitable hub for rural air services and an important gateway to Sarawak. In 2014, Miri Airport is the sixth busiest airport in terms of aircraft movements and the sixth busiest in terms of passengers handled, there were 2,363,080 passenger movements, and 49,204 aircraft movements in the airport.[1]

Miri Airport used to be the second largest airport in Sarawak, after Kuching International Airport. However, the position was overtaken by Sibu Airport in July 2012 after the upgrading and expansion of Sibu Airport's terminal.[3] Miri Airport is not recognised by Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) Malaysia and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) as an international airport despite having scheduled international flights daily.

History

As population of Miri Town grows, the need for a larger airport forced the government to search for a new site to relief the traffic in Lutong Airport. A site to the south east of the town centre was selected. Miri Airport was fully functional post 1980s.

Facilities

Situated in Jalan Airport, Miri Airport is 9.5 km (5.9 mi) south east of Miri's city centre. Miri Airport is the busiest domestic airport in Malaysia in terms of passenger and aircraft movement.[4] The airport has a terminal which can accommodate up to 2 million passengers annually.[5]

The two-storey terminal building is able to handle up to 2 million passenger per annum. The terminal has been operating beyond its designed limits since 2012.[1] There are a total of 15 check-in counters, of which 6 of them are Malaysia Airlines/MASwings check-in counters and 4 for AirAsia. There are also Malaysia Airlines/MASwings and AirAsia self check-in kiosks, located near the side entrance of the airport. The terminal is equipped with a total of 3 conveyor belts in the baggage reclaim hall.

Several shops and F&B outlets can be found in the airport, including Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Marrybrown and Famous Amos. Malaysia Airlines/MASwings and AirAsia each has a sales office in the airport. Malindo Air maintained its sales office in the first floor of the airport, just outside the departure hall, even though it has suspended flights to Miri from Kuala Lumpur indefinitely. Few months later, Malindo's sales office in Miri closed.[6]

There are two aprons in the airport: Apron 'A' and Apron 'B'.[7] The expansion of Apron 'B' was completed in 2014. The aprons underwent yet another expansion in 2015 and were completed on 3 March 2016.[8] The expansion allows 4 additional parking bays for code C aircraft (i.e. Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 and equivalent) and 6 for ATR 72. All existing taxiways, gates and parking bays were renamed after the expansion and upgrades. The apron can now accommodate 7 code C aircraft, 1 Airbus A330 or Boeing 777, 9 ATR 72s and 4 de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters at any given time. Gates A1 - 3 in apron 'A' were renamed Gates 2 - 4 (parking bays 2 - 4), with a new addition of Gate 5 which consists of bays 5 - 8. All gates are for code C aircraft, except for Gate 4 which is optimised for widebody aircraft like Airbus A330 or Boeing 777. Apron 'B' is restricted to Fokker F50 and ATR 72 aircraft or smaller (i.e. DHC-6 Twin Otter) and is primarily used by MASwings, except for parking bay 1 (formerly parking bay B1), which is used for code C aircraft. Gates B and C in apron 'B' were renamed to Gate 1 consisting of parking bays 1 and R1 - R13 (parking bays R1 - 3 were former parking bays B2 - B4 while bays R10 - R13 were initially bays C1 - C4). Parking bays R4 - R9 are new additional parking bays. For the comfort of passengers boarding and disembarking ATR 72s or DHC-6s, 3-fingered piers with covered walkways were also constructed in apron 'B', based on the walkways found in Low cost carrier terminal (LCCT) of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) that is now closed.

Miri Airport is serviced with a 2,745 m × 60 m (9,006 ft × 197 ft) runway, designated Runway 02/20, and a partial, parallel taxiway at a width of 23 m (75 ft). Runway 20 is equipped with high intensity simple approach lights whereas Runway 02 has high intensity Cat 1 precision approach lights installed. Other aids include: ILS, DVOR/DME, NDB and PAPI (slope 3°).[9] Taxiways A3, B1 and C1 that connects the runway, Apron 'A' and Apron 'B' with Taxiway A were finished after the 2016 expansion.[8]

Airside view of Miri Airport.

There is a hangar for general aviation and an Awan Inspirasi hangar 500 m from the terminal building. The general aviation apron GA2 is a small distance away from GA1 apron, which was completed in 2011. The Awan Inspirasi hangar and GA2 were designed to accommodate 4 helicopters up to Sikorsky S92.[10] MASkargo and Gading Sari each maintains a hangar less than 50 m away from the terminal building.

A MASwings ATR 72 parked next to a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 737.

Sarawak controls its own immigration autonomy. The exercised laws require all passengers travelling with any flights from outside Sarawak (including all flights from Peninsular Malaysia, the state of Sabah, Federal Territory of Labuan and other countries) to go through the immigration screening at the first entry of any Sarawakian airport.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinations
AirAsiaJohor Bahru, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International, Kuching, Singapore
Malaysia AirlinesKuala Lumpur–International, Kuching, Singapore
Malaysia Airlines
operated by MASwings
Ba'kelalan, Bario, Bintulu, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Labuan, Lawas, Limbang, Long Akah, Long Banga, Long Lellang, Long Seridan, Marudi, Mukah, Mulu, Sibu

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
Raya AirwaysKota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International
DHL Express
operated by Raya Airways
Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International
Gading Sari renamed to Asia Cargo ExpressKota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International
Neptune AirKota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur–International

Traffic and statistics

Traffic

Annual passenger numbers and aircraft statistics
Year Passengers
handled
Passenger
% Change
Cargo
(tonnes)
Cargo
% Change
Aircraft
Movements
Aircraft
% Change
20031,377,312Steady3,881Steady43,460Steady
20041,509,684Increase 9.64,721Increase 21.645,269Increase 4.2
20051,594,855Increase 5.65,392Increase 14.242,865Decrease 5.3
20061,559,379Decrease 2.24,080Decrease 24.342,680Decrease 0.4
20071,454,167Decrease 6.73,564Decrease 12.635,502Decrease 16.8
20081,537,840Increase 5.74,146Increase 16.338,172Increase 7.5
20091,620,345Increase 5.43,921Decrease 5.441,996Increase 10.0
20101,694,915Increase 4.66,770Increase 72.741,682Decrease 0.7
20111,856,626Increase 9.58,198Increase 21.143,707Increase 4.9
20122,018,415Increase 8.79,879Increase 20.545,127Increase 3.2
20132,223,172Increase 10.19,800Decrease 0.847,585Increase 5.4
20142,363,080Increase 6.38,029Decrease 18.149,204Increase 3.4
20152,249,206Decrease 4.87,292Decrease 9.247,733Decrease 3.0
Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad[11]

Statistics

Busiest flights Out of Miri Airport by Frequency as of 2016
Rank Destinations Frequency
(Weekly)
Airlines
1 Kuala Lumpur 63 AK, MH
2 Sarawak, Kuching 49 AK, MH
3 Sarawak, Lawas 38 MH
4 Sabah, Kota Kinabalu 35 AK, MH
5 Labuan 35 MH
6 Sarawak, Marudi 28 MH
7 Sarawak, Sibu 24 MH
8 Sarawak, Limbang 21 MH
9 Sarawak, Bintulu 14 MH
10 Sarawal, Bario 14 MH
11 Sarawak, Mulu 14 MH
12 Singapore 11 AK, MH
13 Sarawak, Mukah 7 MH
14 Johor, Johor Bahru 3 AK

Expansion and upgrades

Passengers visiting Miri has grown steadily over the years after the upgrade of the terminal. Calls to upgrade the gateway to northern Sarawak was voiced as the airport slowly reaches its maximum capacity.[12][13] On 6 December 2011, The Ministry of Transport, Minister Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri said that Miri Airport will be expanded further to cater for the growing volume of passengers and cargo passing through it. The expansion project would be implemented under the 11th Malaysia Plan following the increase in air passengers using the airport which was projected to reach two million within the next two years. The airport recorded an increase of 9.75 per cent in passenger traffic during the first nine months of this year where 1.35 million passengers used the airport compared with 1.23 million during the same period last year. Cargo traffic also increased 18.69 per cent during the period under review from 4,849 metric tons to 5,756 metric tons. Miri International Airport is the busiest domestic airport in Malaysia in terms of passenger and aircraft movement.[4]

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tabled the 2014 Budget on October 2013 and it was announced that Miri Airport would be among the five airports in the state and Sabah to be upgraded with a RM312 million allocation. The other airports were Sibu and Mukah Airports and Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan Airports.[14] Lee also pointed out the need for the airport to have separate terminals catering to domestic and international and rural air services. This includes separate check-in counters and the departure and arrival lounges. The allocation is also said to improve passenger comfort at the airports.[15]

The growing passenger traffic reached an alarming rate in 2014. Appeals to upgrade the airport to cater the growing numbers using Miri Airport were constantly voiced.[16][17] Miri Airport handles more than 4,000 flights a month, with an average of 125 aircraft landings and take-offs daily, including 62 landings for rural services; with the current airport size, arrival time for incoming flights will be delayed because they have to wait for the other aircraft to depart before it could land at the runway.[13][18] Traffic congestion during peak hours also pose a problem. An urgent meeting was held by Sarawak Communication Assistant Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin regarding the matters. There are also talks to introduce more international routes into Miri to further boost the city's economy and to break the tourism bottleneck experienced in Miri as the only international route of Miri-Singapore at present is inadequate.[19]

On 15 December 2014, Lee announced that Miri Airport is getting RM78 million for its extension work, including the extension of the current runway and the aircraft parking apron.[20] Once the extension was completed, the parking apron would be able to accommodate 8 Boeing aircraft and equivalent, 9 ATR 72 and 4 DHC-6 Twin Otter. The extension project also included installing four additional aerobridges, constructing additional runaway, constructing rooftop walkways for domestic passengers and improving the drainage system. The design of the walkways will be based on the walkways found in Low cost carrier terminal (LCCT) of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) that is now closed.

On 25 April 2016, Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai has sent a proposal to the Ministry of Finance to upgrade the status of Miri Airport into an international airport.[21]

Miri Airport at night

Incidents

References

  1. 1 2 3 Miri Airport, Sarawak at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
  2. 1 2 WBGR - MIRI at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
  3. Moh, Jane (1 August 2012). "New Sibu airport terminal commences operation". Borneo Post Online. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Miri Airport to be expanded under 11MP". Borneo Post Online.
  5. http://www.etawau.com/HTML/Miri/MiriInternationalAirport.htm
  6. Aubrey, Samuel (8 October 2013). "Malindo Air to suspend KL-Miri sector indefinitely". Borneo Post Online. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  7. at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
  8. 1 2 at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
  9. at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
  10. at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
  11. "MAHB Annual Report 2015" (PDF). Malaysia Airports. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  12. "Call to Upgrade Miri Airport". Borneo Post Online. Borneo Post Online.
  13. 1 2 "Miri Airport needs to be extended to cater to growing needs - Lee". Borneo Post Online.
  14. "‘Upgrading of Miri Airport would bring Miri’s tourism to new height’". Borneo Post Online.
  15. "Daud: Airport upgrading in Mukah, Sibu and Miri timely". Borneo Post Online.
  16. "Lee calls for upgrade of Miri Airport". Borneo Post Online. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  17. "Miri Airport needs an upgrade – Jofri Jaraiee". The Malaysian Insider. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  18. "Congestion at Miri Airport affects domestic, foreign flight schedules". Borneo Post Online. 12 July 2014.
  19. "More international air routes wanted for Miri’s tourism industry". Borneo Post Online.
  20. "Miri Airport gets RM78 mln for extension". Borneo Post Online. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  21. Mark Elliott (25 April 2016). "Plan to upgrade Miri Airport in Sarawak". Travel Daily Asia. Retrieved 25 April 2016.

External links

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