Malacca International Airport
Malacca International Airport Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Melaka | |||||||||||
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 Plan of the layout of the new Terminal | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Malaysia | ||||||||||
| Operator | Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad | ||||||||||
| Serves | Malacca, Peninsular Malaysia | ||||||||||
| Location | Batu Berendam, Malacca, Peninsular Malaysia | ||||||||||
| Time zone | MST (UTC+08:00) | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 40 ft / 12 m | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  WMKM Location in West Malaysia | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2013) | |||||||||||
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Malacca International Airport (IATA: MKZ, ICAO: WMKM) (formerly known as Batu Berendam Airport is an airport located in Batu Berendam, Malacca in Malaysia. The Airport serves the city and the state of Malacca, as well as northern Johor.
History
The airport, which occupies 141 acres (0.57 km2) of land, was built in 1952.
The airport and particularly its control tower bears historical significance as it was the same tower which guided the plane of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, to land from London on 20 February 1956. It was in Malacca that Tunku announced the date for the independence of then Malaya from the United Kingdom. Considering the historical nature of this control tower, the Chief Minister of Malacca, Mohd Ali Rustam is attempting to save the tower, by either relocating it, or by changing plans to incorporate the tower.[3]
Between 2008 and 2014, the airport was served by Sky Aviation which operated flights from Pekanbaru 5 times per week.[4] Flights ceased in 2014 when Sky Aviation suspended all operations.
The airport is also used as the base of the Malaysian Flying Academy (MFA), which has been operating out of the airport since 1987.
New terminal
Construction of a new terminal started on 1 April 2006. The runway was upgraded from 1,372 m × 37 m (4,501 ft × 121 ft), to 2,045 m × 45 m (6,709 ft × 148 ft) and is now 2,135 m × 45 m (7,005 ft × 148 ft), allowing Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft to take off. The terminal complex was replaced by a new 7,000 m2 (75,000 sq ft) terminal equipped with international-standard amenities. The control tower was replaced and complemented with advanced aeronautical devices. Both ends of the runway now contain facilities to guide night landing and better assure safety in bad weather conditions.
On May 2009, the new terminal was officially opened. The new terminal could handle 1.5 million passengers annually as opposed to the 30,000 of the old terminal. The airport was visited by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on February 2010. In his visit, he officially renamed the airport Malacca International Airport.
Airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Malindo Air | Kota Bharu, Pekanbaru, Penang |
Traffic and statistics
handled |
% change |
(tonnes) |
% change |
movements |
% change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 31,108 |  |
214 | |
57,636 |
|
| 2004 | 46,692 |  50.1 |
602 | 181.3 |
70,369 | 22.1
|
| 2005 | 27,683 |  40.7 |
370 | 38.5 |
77,504 | 10.1
|
| 2006 | 18,509 | 33.1 |
146 | 60.5 |
74,888 | 3.4
|
| 2007 | 27,209 | 47.0 |
219 | 50.0 |
64,936 | 13.3
|
| 2008 | 23,751 | 12.7 |
179 | 18.3 |
60,512 | 6.8
|
| 2009 | 18,576 | 21.8 |
127 | 29.0 |
54,160 | 10.5
|
| 2010 | 21,687 | 16.7 |
144 | 13.4 |
60,811 | 12.3
|
| 2011 | 21,322 | 1.7 |
139 | 3.5 |
53,702 | 11.7
|
| 2012 | 34,355 | 61.1 |
195 | 40.3 |
48,881 | 9.0
|
| 2013 | 21,637 | 37.0 |
0 | 100 |
36,978 | 24.4
|
See also
References
- ^ Malacca International Airport at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
- ^ WMKM – MALACCA at Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia
- ^ "Malacca CM in bid to save airport tower", The Star, 30 August 2007
- ^ "Air Asia di Melaka", "Mohd Ali Rustam's blog", 28 August 2008
- ^ "MAHB Annual Report 2012" (PDF). MAHB. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
External links
- List of International Airports in Malaysia as Recognized by Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad
- Current weather for WMKM at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for MKZ at Aviation Safety Network
- EZineer – A forum with regular updates on Expansion work progress
- Batu Berendam Airport, Malacca at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
- [1] Melaka Air can fly only after it obtains mandatory licences
- Sky Aviation Launches Pekanbaru-Melaka Service
- Sky Aviation Flight Schedule
- Firefly Flight Schedule