Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport

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Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport
Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah
IATA: SZB – ICAO: WMSA
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
Serves Kuala Lumpur
Location Subang, Selangor, Malaysia
Elevation AMSL 90 ft / 27 m
Coordinates 03°07′50″N 101°32′57″E / 3.13056, 101.54917
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
15/33 3,780 12,401 Asphalt
Source: DAFIF[1][2]

Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (IATA: SZB, ICAO: WMSA) (formerly Subang International Airport), often called Subang Airport, is an airport located in Subang, Malaysia, and primarily serves general aviation and some turboprop domestic flights. Although plans existed to convert the airport into a low-cost carrier hub, the change was opposed by Subang Jaya residents. Until the 1998 opening of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport served as Kuala Lumpur's primary airport. Subang Airport is currently the hubs of Berjaya Air and Firefly.

Contents

[edit] History

The airport officially was opened to traffic on August 30th, 1965, and had the longest runway (3.7km long, 45m wide - runway 15 - 33) in Southeast Asia.[citation needed] By the 1990s, the airport had three terminals - Terminal 1 for international flights, Terminal 2 for Singapore - KL shuttle flights by Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines, and Terminal 3 for domestic flights. Toward the end of service, the airport suffered at least two major fires that forced traffic to be diverted to other airports. By the end of 1997, Subang Airport handled 15.8 million passengers.[citation needed]

In July 2002, AirAsia began flying from KLIA, and in 2004, AirAsia considered utilising the airport as a primary hub in Malaysia. However, the plan was rejected and the Malaysian government now plans to turn the airport into an international conference centre.[citation needed]. Since Firefly started operations in the airport, AirAsia has been lobbying the government to allow AirAsia to use Subang Airport. As of December 2007, the government still maintains its policy of only allowing general aviation and turbo-prop flights out of Subang Airport.[3]

[edit] Currently

The airport serves as Berjaya Air's main gateway to several Malaysian holiday destinations, including Pulau Tioman. Transmile Air Services a national cargo carrier chose Subang Airport as their main cargo operation center, Several companies offer chartered flights and helicopter services from the airport. A number of flying clubs are also located at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport, the most famous of these being Subang Flying Club, Elite Flying Club, Eurocopter(An EADS Company), ESB Flying Club(Eurodynamic Sdn Bhd).

Eurocopter Hangers at Subang Airport
Eurocopter Hangers at Subang Airport

Malaysia Airline's subsidiary Firefly has been granted approval by the Malaysian Government to utilise the airport for turboprop flights. MAS Aerospace, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, operates a maintenance, repair and overhaul center at the airport for Malaysia Airline's aircraft and third party aircraft.[4]

Apart from that, Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport is also a hub for Global Flying Hospital.[citations needed]

[edit] Terminal 3 Transformation Plan

On 4 December 2007, Subang SkyPark Sdn Bhd announce a RM 300 million plan to transform the Terminal 3 building into an ultra-modern general and corporate aviation hub. The plan includes upgrading the terminal, creation of regional aviation center and finally the establishment of a commercial nexus. Under an agreement with Malaysia Airports, Subang Skypark will serve private aviation while Malaysia Airports will serve Berjaya Air and Firefly Airlines. Subang Skypark recently signed a lease agreement with Malaysia Airports for the land in the Airport in Langkawi.[5][6]

On the next day, VistaJet, a business jet service provider, has announced that it will use the airport as a base of operations in Malaysia. It has chosen Terminal 3, which is being operated by Subang Skypark to be the hub in Asia. [7]

The operator announce that construction works for a 9000 square feet, five star executive lounge begins in February 2008. The construction works was awarded to ArcRadius Sdn Bhd. It is expected that the lounge works will be done by end of March 2008[8]. The transformation plans also calls for a construction of two 42 meters by 47 meters maintenance, repair and overhaul hangars and ten 36 meter by 36 meter parking hangars. The construction of the MRO hangars will complete by end of 2008 while two of the ten parking hangars will complete by end of 2009.[9]

[edit] Airlines and destinations

While Terminal 1 has been demolished, Terminal 2 is currently used for the management of Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad.

Following are the commercial turboprops airlines that serve Terminal 3:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Airport information for WMSA at World Aero Data. Source: DAFIF.
  2. ^ Airport information for SZB at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF.
  3. ^ AirAsia a key player in changing aviation landscape
  4. ^ Anna Maria Samsudin. "MAS Aerospace sees RM400m third-party revenue", Business Times. 
  5. ^ RM300m to transform Terminal 3
  6. ^ Subang to become hub for corporate jets
  7. ^ Vista Jet picks Subang to be Asian hub
  8. ^ Work on SkyPark Subang begins
  9. ^ Thean Lee Cheng. "Turning Subang into SkyPark", The Star. Retrieved on 2008-05-03. 

[edit] External links


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