Malikus Saleh Airport

Malikus Saleh Airport Bandar Udara Malikus Saleh
IATA: LSW ICAO: WITM
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Lhokseumawe
Operator	Ministry of Transportation
Serves	Lhokseumawe
Location	North Aceh Regency, Aceh, Indonesia
Opened	1985;40 years ago (1985)
Time zone	WIB (UTC+07:00)
Elevation  AMSL	27 m / 90 ft
Coordinates	5°13′36″N96°57′1″E / 5.22667°N 96.95028°E / 5.22667; 96.95028
Map
LSW/WITM Location in Aceh Show map of Aceh LSW/WITM Location in Northern Sumatra Show map of Northern Sumatra LSW/WITM Location in Sumatra Show map of Sumatra LSW/WITM Location in Indonesia Show map of Indonesia
Runways
Direction Length Surface ft m 06/24 6,069 1,850 Paved
Source: DAFIF [1] [2]

Malikus Saleh Airport( IATA : LSW, ICAO : WITM) is an airport located in Pinto Makmur, Muara Batu, North Aceh Regency, Aceh province. The airport operated by Pertamina, and later by Government of North Aceh Regency.

History

The airport was built by PT Arun NGL, a natural gas exploration subsidiary of the Indonesian state-owned conglomerate Pertamina, to facilitate the air transport between Lhokseumawe and its vicinity to the regional centre of Medan. The airport was once served by Jatayu Air due to the low passenger traffic between Banda Aceh and Medan. This was due to the ongoing conflict between the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which threatened land transportation routes in Aceh.

PT Arun initially used Pelita Air Service (another Pertamina subsidiary)-owned aircraft for daily flights on the Lhokseumawe-Medan route. After several years, flight operations were taken over by the Beechcraft 1900D airliner owned by Travira Air. Prior to PT Arun's closure in 2015, operations and ownership of the airport were transferred to the Lhokseumawe City Government.

Currently, Wings Air is the only airline that serves the Malikus Saleh Airport on the Lhokseumawe-Medan route thrice weekly. ^[3]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Wings Air	Medan

Incidents

21 July 2005: A CN-235 aircraft belonging to the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) experienced a disaster while landing at Malikus Saleh Airport. The aircraft was on a flight from Banda Aceh to Lhokseumawe. However, 75 meters before landing, the aircraft's engine failed, causing it to crash and skid for 200 meters. As a result, three TNI members died after the accident. The CN-235 aircraft was carrying 23 passengers, consisting of six army officers, eight air force personnel, and six navy personnel. The rest were civilians. ^[4]

References

1. "Airport information for WITM". World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 2019-03-05. Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF.
2. Airport information for LSW at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF  (effective October 2006).
3. "Rute baru: Kualanamu – Meulaboh – Lhokseumawe – Sabang - Garuda Indonesia". www.garuda-indonesia.com. Retrieved 2015-11-10.
4. "Pesawat CN-235 TNI-AU Jatuh". Archived from the original on 2021-04-17. Retrieved 2008-08-28.