Sibu Airport is an airport located east south east of Sibu, a town in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. In 2018, the airport handled 1,579,528 passengers on 20,869 flights and also handled 1,443 metric tonnes of cargo. The airport is the 11th busiest airport in Malaysia, and the 3rd busiest in Sarawak in terms of passengers handled.

In April 2009, the airport was given RM 150 million for an upgrade of the terminal building. On 23 September 2010, Sarawak Minister of Finance and Public Health, Dato' Sri Wong Soon Koh had announced that the expansion project would commence.

The upgraded terminal started its operation on 31 July 2012.New Sibu airport terminal commences operation The airport terminal is the third largest airport terminal in Sarawak after Kuching International Airport and Miri International Airport, with a total terminal floor space of 15,240 m2.

History

First Airport: 1952-1994

The first airport in Sibu was built in Teku, during World War II by the Japanese as a basic air strip. However, the airstrip was heavily bombed by Allied Forces. Reconstruction work on the airport began in 1951. Initially, the runway was constructed at 3,600 feet by 150 feet. First plane landed at the airport on 21 May 1952. The airport opened to regular service on 1 July 1952. Malayan Airways did transit flights from Singapore to Kuching, Sibu and stop at Labuan on every Tuesdays. This was followed by transit flights of the same aircraft follow the same route back to Singapore on the next day. Another flight was operated by Douglas Dakota from Singapore to Kuching, Sibu, and stopped at North Borneo on Fridays. The same flight would follow the same route back to Singapore on the next day. The runway was extended to 4,500 feet by 150 feet in 1959.

On 15 August 1990, a Lockheed C-130H Hercules belonging to the Royal Malaysian Air Force skidded off the runway and the aircraft had been written off. It was believed that those on board are part of the royal entourage visit to Sibu.

On 2 September 1992, a Fokker 50 aircraft landing gear failed, causing the aircraft to veer off the runway and into the bushes.

The old airport has been demolished to make way for Laila Taib College (formerly known as UCS-United College of Sarawak) and Tun Zaidi Stadium. The runway of the old airport can still be seen and half of it is used as the connecting road for the stadium.

Current Airport: 1994-present

Operation of the new airport officially began on 1 June 1994. The airport is located at 23 km away from the town of Sibu. On 31 May 1994, four Malaysia Airlines aircraft performed inaugural landings. The aircraft were three Fokker 50 and a Boeing 737. The airport was built with a single runway, designated as Runway 13/Runway 31. The runway at that time measured . Runway 13 was equipped with approach lighting system known as "Precision Approach Lighting Category 1", while Runway 31 was equipped with "Simple Approach Lighting System". Airside areas such as taxiways and airport apron are also equipped with lightning systems. The maximum capacity of the parking apron was one Airbus, two Boeing 737-400s, two Fokker 50 and two Twin Otter or similar aircraft. Only Bay 2 and 3 were equipped with aerobridges.

The runway was later extended to 2,745 metres and commissioned for use on 9 May 2006 to accommodate the landing of Airbus.

In September 2010, an expansion project was underway to upgrade the terminal building and car park with the addition of more aerobridges. This upgrade increases the capacity of the airport into handling 1.9 million passengers annually. The cost of the upgrade was RM130 million. Brand new check-in counters of the airport were opened on 19 December 2011. The upgraded Sibu Airport was inaugurated on 16 September 2012.

On 29 September 2014, a Singaporean training aircraft Beechcraft King Air C90B skidded off the runway during touchdown. No one was injured during the incident.

On 8 April 2017, Malaysia Airlines Flight 2718, operated by Boeing 737-800 9M-MXX, overran the runway on landing. The nose gear collapsed. All 67 people on board survived. The incident resulted in Sibu Airport closure until 10 April, and left 1,413 passengers were affected cancellations and delays of flights. The airport was closed on 13 August 2019 to repair faulty lights on the runway. A total of 12 flights operated by MASwings and AirAsia were cancelled. The airport resumed normal operation on the next day.

Airlines and destinations Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Traffic + Annual passenger numbers and aircraft statistics 1995624,7382,45518,9051996654,785 4.811,758 28.3920,243 7.081997631,701 3.531,904 8.3019,551 3.421998555,483 12.071,499 21.2717,099 12.541999620,830 11.761,745 16.4116,096 5.872000657,375 5.891,874 7.3915,743 2.192001725,449 10.362,006 7.0416,995 7.952002759,704 4.721,916 4.4917,113 0.692003817,687 7.631,701 11.2216,885 1.332004903,108 10.451,567 7.8817,650 4.532005920,930 1.971,377 12.1317,330 1.812006898,923 2.391,040 24.4715,638 9.762007809,955 9.90892 14.2312,536 19.842008831,772 2.70735 17.5014,672 17.002009939,732 12.98856 16.4617,449 18.9320101,009,002 7.401,133 32.3518,985 8.8020111,133,903 12.291,153 1.7718,211 4.0820121,204,267 6.21,612 39.815,923 12.5620131,383,887 14.91,413 12.317,196 8.020141,440,935 4.11,460 3.322,508 30.920151,454,360 0.91,304 10.721,172 5.920161,469,341 1.01,048 19.624,806 14.620171,497,412 1.91,285 22.618,598 25.020181,579,528 5.51,443 12.220,869 12.220191,750,876 10.91,259 12.816,748 19.72020569,625 67.51,406 11.77,122 54.52021242,451 57.41,633 16.13,523 50.520221,234,473 409.23,027 85.412,008 240.820231,548,423 25.42,214 26.913,603 13.320241,459,036 5.71,993 9.913,248 2.620251,577,894 8.11,714 14.014,882 12.3 Source: Ministry of Transport (Malaysia)

Flight statistics + Busiest domestic flights out of Sibu Airport by frequency as of November 2025RankDestinationsFrequency(weekly)Airlines1 Kuala Lumpur56AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, Batik Air Malaysia, Firefly2 Kuching, Sarawak32AirAsia3 Miri, Sarawak21MASwings4 Johor Bahru, Johor13AirAsia5 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah7AirAsia5 Bintulu, Sarawak7MASwings7 Mukah, Sarawak3MASwings7 Singapore 3 Scoot

+ Traffic movements between Sibu AirportFromTo20082009201020112012201320142015201620172018 Sibu Kuala Lumpur 167,582 185,734 216,571 227,381 247,624 301,394 309,103 325,257 344,863 359,836 368,803 Kuala Lumpur Sibu 169,787 187,536 218,651 232,530 246,075 300,070 308,265 326,003 345,427 364,552 365,752 SibuKuching35,136156,361167,033206,421215,094233,064239,622236,735226,719232,813260,446KuchingSibu32,801153,711162,872198,833216,898230,304236,371238,600228,843234,019259,492SibuMiri31,92632,17732,3184,71851,57053,76158,52250,75650,77845,11446,510MiriSibu26,02832,73032,9414,44349,46952,26556,17950,49851,09144,64847,214SibuBintulu5,40210,35812,97316,88810,68710,52412,19210,46610,57610,57011,829BintuluSibu1,26378410612,83113,88110,39611,38311,56811,40710,10411,274SibuKotaKinabalu18,34047,36540,13338,31935,22734,96135,80834,99334,83231,98630,497KotaKinabaluSibu28,54948,23440,10142,41342,69036,48538,16634,82634,33733,02729,674 Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad

+ Sector traffic movements between Sibu AirportSector20082009201020112012201320142015201620172018 Sibu<->KualaLumpur337,369373,270435,222459,911493,699601,464617,368651,260690,290724,388734,555Sibu<->Kuching67,937310,072329,905405,254431,992463,368475,993475,335455,562466,832519,938Sibu<->Miri57,95464,90765,2599,161101,039106,026114,701101,254101,86989,76293,724Sibu<->Bintulu6,66511,14213,07929,71924,56820,92023,57522,03421,98320,67423,103Sibu<->KotaKinabalu46,88995,59980,23480,73277,91771,44673,97469,81969,16965,01360,171 Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad

References

External links

Accident history for SBW at Aviation Safety Network