Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Kuching International Airport, Borneo’s longest airport runway, ready


KUCHING: Kuching International Airport (KIA) is the only airport in East Malaysia and the third airport in the country with the capacity to accommodate Airbus 380 landing.

Global Upline Sdn Bhd advisor Tan Sri Ting Pek Khiing told reporters this yesterday before a tour of the KIA extended runway which will be declared open by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tomorrow.

The runway is now 3,780 metres long. It measured 2,454m previously. Construction took four years to complete and incurred RM800 million in cost.

“KIA is one of the three airports in Malaysia that caters for Airbus 380. The other two airports are Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Langkawi International Airport,” he said.

He said Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) would be next and that works to upgrade it by Global Upline were ongoing and should be completed in eight to 10 months’ time.

Ting said yesterday that a fully loaded MAS 747 would be the first aircraft to land on the extended runway at 4.45pm tomorrow.

According to Ting, the runway complies fully with international requirements that include visual aids such as glide path, localiser, precision approach light, runway and taxiway lighting and signs.

He said construction was not easy because it involved transforming a swampy area.

“We have to remove unsuitable soil and filled the area layer by layer. The filling was around 60 feet to 100 feet … in some places almost 10 storeys high.

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