A. A. Bere Tallo Airport | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Owner | Ministry of Transportation | ||||||||||
Operator | Ministry of Transportation | ||||||||||
Serves | Atambua, Indonesia | ||||||||||
Time zone | WITA (UTC+08:00) | ||||||||||
Elevation AMSL | 1,434 ft / 437.18 m | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 09°04′29″S124°54′12″E / 9.07472°S 124.90333°E | ||||||||||
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Runways | |||||||||||
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A.A. Bere Tallo Airport, previously known as Haliwen Airport( IATA : ABU [1] , ICAO : WATA [2] , formerly WRKA [3] ) is located in Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. [4] [5]
It changed its name in 2013, to match local government's regulation on airport naming. [6]
The airport was a stop-over location in the early days of pioneering aviation for Bill Lancaster and Jessie Maude "Chubbie" Miller in 1927. This journey was one of the longest flights made in a small aircraft and the first attempted flight between England and Australia. However, the flight was overtaken by Bert Hinkler, who was the first to complete the journey. [7] Haliwen Airfield was first built by the Japanese Government in 1942 with a grass-based 800 meter long runway. [8]
In 1972, the runway was improved by length to 900 meters with a stone surface. Then in 1976, it was inaugurated as a civil aviation airport with the name Haliwen Airfield, headed by Mr. Paulus Seran with a term of office from 1976 - 1989. During this time, the airport was only used by non-scheduled flights. In 1989, during the tenure of Mr. Untung Riadi, Haliwen Airfield was upgraded to a Class IV Airport. Along with the upgrade, the airport was renamed to Haliwen Atambua Class IV Airport. However, even during this time, it still only served unscheduled flights. By 1996, Mr. Bambang Samudro replaced Mr. Untung Riadi as Head of the Airport Office and served until 2010. In 2006, the airport had a runway length of just 900 meters. [9] It was extended several times, with plans to extend the runway to 2,500 meters eventually. [10] [8]
In 2010, the company Susi Pudjiastuti (Susi Air) opened the Kupang-Atambau-Kupang route, using a Cessna Caravan 208 aircraft, which has a seating capacity of 12 passengers. The service operated daily flights. At the same time, Merpati Airlines also opened the Kupang-Atambua-Kiser route with twice-weekly flights. Mr. Yacobis S. Mozes served as the airport head until 2013. Under his leadership, Haliwen Airport saw many improvements, including a major upgrade to the terminal building. It was upgraded from a small to a large-sized terminal. In September 2013, the airport was again upgraded to a Class III Airport, and its name was changed to Class III A. A. Bere Tallo-Atambua Airport Administrative Unit. The name honors Alfonsius Andreas Bere Tallo, the first Regent of Belu Regency. [8]
Today, UPBU A. A. Bere Tallo is still active and serves scheduled commercial flights, such as those operated by Wings Air. [8]
Airlines | Destinations |
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Wings Air | Kupang |