| Taiping Airport Lapangan Terbang Taiping |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| IATA: TPG[1] – ICAO: WMBI[2] | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public / Military | ||
| Operator | Ministry of Defence Malaysia (MINDEF) | ||
| Serves | Taiping, Malaysia | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 40 ft / 12 m | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 18/36 | 1,320 | 4,330 | Tarmac / Grass |
| Source: AIP Malaysia[2] | |||
Taiping Airport (IATA: TPG, ICAO: WMBI) is an airport in Taiping, Malaysia. It is located at Jalan Muzaffar Shah formerly Creagh Road, Assam Kumbang and also called as Tekah Airport. The airport was built in early 1929, this wooden structure aerodrome was the first airfield in the state of Perak and also in Peninsular Malaysia. The airstrip can accommodate the Fokker planes only, because the landing strip is too short for modern aircraft to land and take off.
Taiping Airport is the oldest airport built in Malaysia. It was built by the British in 1929 for non-military purpose. Along with Alor Star Airport, both were the earliest airports in Malaya that built in the same year. However, in 1933 more airports were built and mushrooming in Singapore, Selangor and Penang, and the Taiping Airport no longer hold the importance.
In February 2007, the airport was chosen to be the centre hub for the Global Flying Hospitals, GFH. However, in July 2007, the decision of choosing Taiping Airport as the flying hub was not suitable, and the Chairman of GFH, Neill Newton, announced a new location will be selected, but not in Malaysia.
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The Taiping Airport which located in Assam Kumbang also called as Tekah Airport. The airport was built in 1929 and claimed as the first airport officially established in Federated Malay States and also in South East Asia. The airport was not much important compare to other airports that mushrooming after the establishment of the first at Taiping. Besides, serving as a commercial airport for the use of the British officers and European merchants. The airport also served as the airstrip for the Royal Malayans Air Force (RMF). The airport served short distance destinations such as to Alor Star, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. The Penang to Singapore flight routes runs a daily stop by at the Taiping Airport. The first Malaya airway company, the Wearne Air Service Company made a daily flight to Taiping, to deliver newspapers to the town. After the end of the Japanese Occupation the destination to other Malay states were canceled, the airport only served flight to other airports within Perak state, and only the Ipoh Airport was authorized to serve flights to other states. The airport also achieved fame through the famous American aviator, Amelia Mary Earhart in 1937, when she was doing her world flight and stopover at the Taiping Airport for refueling petrol. Amelia Earhart was doing her flight route from Thailand to Singapore, her permission to land at Taiping Airport was allowed on 7 June 1937 by the then Resident-General of Malaya. The airport also marked a significant in the history of Malaysia, when Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta later became the President and Vice-President of Indonesia landed at the airport on 12 August 1945 for a meeting with Dr. Burhanuddin al-Helmi and Ibrahim Yaakub who were leaders of a political party named KRIS to talk about the possibility of joining Malaya with Indonesia, when Indonesia achieved independence. The meeting was arranged by the Japanese officers during the World War II. However, the plan was never succeed and Indonesia announced its independence without Malaya. In February 2007, the Chief State Minister of Perak, Datuk Seri Mohammad Tajol Rosli bin. Ghazali announced that the airport had been chosen as the hub for Global Flying Hospitals (GHF), which is an international organization that brings humanitarian medical support to developing nations. Unfortunately, the plan was not carried out, because the runway at the airport was too short (about 200 feet long) to accommodate the GFH’s planes, as the GFH using the A320 Airbus, the GFH now stationed at the Subang Airport.