Kuching International Airport
Kuching International Airport is an international airport serving the entire southwestern region of Sarawak, Malaysia. It is located south of Kuching city centre. The airport is colocated with the RMAF Kuching, home to the No. 7 Squadron RMAF.
The airport terminal is capable of handling five million passengers per annum and it is the fourth busiest airport in Malaysia. KIA has grown rapidly with an increasing number of passengers and aircraft movement. In 2024, KIA handled 5,383,947 passengers with a corresponding volume of 46,947 flights. In the same year, 52,606 metric tonnes of cargo were handled through this facility.
KIA is the operating base for AirAsia and has been growing rapidly to tackle the demand of the travellers in the Sarawak region.
History
An airstrip in Kuching was first constructed at 7th Mile in 1938, measuring long by wide. An airport terminal building was later completed and opened for use on 26 September 1950. The airport consisted of a small L-shaped single-storey passenger terminal, a small cargo facility, and an airport fire station. Air Traffic Control Tower, Meteorological Service and Maintenance building were clustered in one area, a small apron of four parking bays and a single runway which was 1,372 metres long and 46 metres wide. Navigational and Radio Aids were installed at the airport.Kuching International Airport then became the gateway to Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo with the introduction of once weekly Douglas Dakota twin-engined piston aircraft services originating from Singapore by Malayan Airways. By the end of 1954, scheduled air services into Kuching International Airport grew by leaps and bounds. This was depicted in the 1954 statistics which recorded 1,550 aircraft movements, 13,564 passengers, 95,911 kilogrammes of cargo and 25,984 mails. In 1959, the runway was extended to 1,555 metres in length to make way for Vickers Viscount turboprop aircraft operations.
In 1962, the runway was extended once more to a length of 1,921 meters to facilitate DeHavilland Comet-4 turbojet aircraft operations. The terminal was also enlarged in the same year. A Control Zone was established at Kuching in November as a part of a plan to provide an Air Traffic Control Service commensurate with the growth of air traffic. Malayan Airways Limited operated the Singapore / British Borneo Territories Regional Services with Vickers Viscount and Douglas DC-3 aircraft, daily schedules linked Kuching and Sibu with Singapore on the other side; and connection via Borneo Airways to Brunei and Borneo on the other.
In 1971, the Malaysian Government engaged a team of Canadian Consultants to make a Master Plan study of Kuching International Airport.
In December 1972, the government accepted the Consultant's report. Among the recommendations were:
- The extension and strengthening of existing runway to enable operations by larger jet-powered aircraft
- The construction of a new terminal building on the north site of the runway
In 1980, consistent with the advent of Airbus A300B4 operations, it was imperative that the runway pavement strength be upgraded to meet the requirements of that particular aircraft. Work on this was completed in early 1982.
Construction of the terminal complex at the north site took a centre stage at the end of 1978 and was completed in July 1983. This modern terminal replaced the previous terminal, and was opened for business on 24 August 1983. The terminal complex covered a built-up area of 81 hectares with a floor space of 13,000 square metres, comprised the three-storey passenger terminal flanked by neatly planned buildings which consisted of the Air Traffic Control Tower and operations block, a larger freight facility, a new airport fire station, Maintenance Building, VIP Building and ancillary services building.
An extension of the airport, consisting of extending the existing runway to accommodate "jumbo jets", reconstruction of the existing terminal was planned in 1991, costing RM 240 million, with the runway extension taking 60% of the total cost. It was planned to be completed in 1994.
As of 1999, two foreign airlines from both Singapore and Brunei as well as Malaysia's national carrier and as many as eight private general aviation companies operated scheduled services into and out of Kuching International Airport. Non-scheduled charter flights were also operated by two foreign airlines. As of 2018, however, four of Malaysia's airlines as well as four cargo operators operate to and from Kuching International Airport. They are joined by three foreign carriers. In 2019, Royal Brunei, in a joint venture with Malindo Air, further connected Kuching to BWN using Malindo Air's ATR aircraft. Foreign airlines that have previously provided services to Kuching were Singapore Airlines, Dragonair, Hong Kong Airlines, Jetstar Asia, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, Silk Air, Batavia Air, Kalstar Airlines, Xpress Air and Tiger Airways. The latter returned to Kuching after merging with Scoot while Xpress Air stopped services following stiff competition from AirAsia and Wings Air on the Kuching-Pontianak route as well as Xpress Air concentrating on domestic routes due to Xpress Air's core business.
As a result of the increasing number of passengers going into and out of Kuching, a completely new and larger terminal was needed. Construction started in the early 2000s, and progressed at an incredible pace. The new terminal was literally constructed from the inside out, with the old terminal slowly being chipped away and replaced by new sections of the new terminal. The new terminal complex was finally opened on 16 January 2006 by the Chief Minister of Sarawak Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud and the then Malaysian Minister of Transport Dato' Sri Chan Kong Choy. The full work on the terminal, however, was only completed in April 2006. The new terminal consists of 12 aerobridge aircraft parking bays, four remote parking bays, plus three new aircraft parking bays located at the general aviation section.
Expansion, renovation and redevelopment
Kuching International Airport was given a radical makeover, with the terminal completed in 2006 and the runway and taxiway extension fully completed in 2008. The renovations borrowed many design features from Kuala Lumpur's then-new airport, so the two have a similar look.The renovation increased terminal building floor space to and was completed 15 months ahead of schedule. The fully renovated terminal building was officially opened by the then Prime Minister of Malaysia Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on 17 April 2006. The project was handled by Global Upline Sdn. Bhd. and it cost some MYR620,000,000. With this, the airport is capable of handling widebody aircraft such as Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A380-800.
The completed works involved above ground-level earthworks and pavement upgrades, extension of the runway length from 2454 metres to 3780 metres, widening of shoulders from 46 metres to 60 metres, extension of parallel taxiway to a full parallel taxiway with interconnection/rapid exit taxiways including widening of taxiway fillets and shoulders to 30 metres. The air-side apron works included the construction of a cargo apron, high-intensity lightings and markings. Visual and non-visual aids will be upgraded and/or relocated consistent with the upgrading plan to serve the extended runway. With nine gates, the airport can handle six narrow body aircraft, three widebody aircraft and four turboprop aircraft. Of note, gate number 9 was specifically constructed for Airbus A380-800 operations.
Present and future
In 2006, Malaysia Airlines in Kuching International Airport achieved a zero accident rate.The former Chief Minister of Sarawak, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, had wished to attract more foreign airlines to KIA so as to develop the Sarawak Tourism Industry. Singapore's former budget airline, Tiger Airways, had been given the green light to serve Kuching International Airport. Since then however, Scoot, a low-cost subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, has taken on the mantle of serving flights to Singapore along with AirAsia.
As of 2025, the Premier of Sarawak, Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Abang Openg, has announced plans to build a new international airport near the coastal area of Tanjung Embang to replace the existing airport as the current rate of growth of the terminal will soon become incapable of catering to growing passenger traffic. The current terminal however will remain as a hub for regional and domestic air travel. The new airport will also share its location with a brand new deep sea port as well as a PETROS gas terminal. There are also plans to connect the existing terminal to the newly planned international terminal located at Tanjung Embang using the Kuching Urban Transportation System much like the connection between KLIA Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 although it is unclear whether or not the Red Line will be used or an entirely new line will be built.
The Sarawak Government had also planned to set up a boutique airline to be operated by Hornbill Skyways, a state-owned airline company. The airline's operations would also focus on a strategic hub and that the initial plan is to provide direct flights from Sarawak to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Denpasar, Bangkok and Hong Kong. However, plans for such an idea have shifted and the Sarawak Government has since transformed MASwings, the former regional carrier under Malaysia Airlines meant to serve the Bornean states, into a full-service carrier which is now known as AirBorneo and has started operations at the airport since 2 January 2026.