Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Kota Kinabalu International Airport (WBKK) lies on Borneo's northwest coast, some 8 km southwest of Kota Kinabalu city centre in the Malaysian state of Sabah. It is the principal gateway to Sabah and East Malaysia, and the second busiest airport in the country, with a long single runway capable of handling everything from light general-aviation types to the Airbus A380.
Kota Kinabalu International Airport serves the city of Kota Kinabalu, capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, and sits on the island of Borneo. It is operated by Malaysia Airports and functions as the main hub for MASwings, a secondary hub for Firefly and Malaysia Airlines, and the second-largest base in Malaysia for AirAsia. For the visiting VFR pilot it is notable both as a major international gateway and as a home for general aviation, with several locally based flying operators sharing the field.
The airport is located in the Kepayan and Tanjung Aru areas of Kota Kinabalu, roughly 8 km southwest of the city centre, on Sabah's west coast facing the South China Sea. It is a controlled aerodrome with its own approach, tower and ground services, reflecting its status as the primary gateway into Sabah and the wider East Malaysian region.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 02/20, orientated broadly north-south. It is a hard-surfaced runway 12,422 ft long on the 02 threshold and 11,532 ft long on the 20 threshold, lit, and equipped with ILS at both ends. Field elevation is 10 ft.
Kota Kinabalu Approach operates on 119.1 MHz (A/D). An air-to-ground frequency, Kinabalu Radio, is available on 682.5 MHz. Kinabalu Control (ACC) works on 126.1 MHz, with ATIS broadcast on 127.4 MHz. Ground movements are handled by Kinabalu Ground on 121.6 MHz, with a separate information frequency on 133.3 MHz, and Kinabalu Tower operates on 118.3 MHz. The runway is equipped with ILS.
The airfield began life as a military installation built by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War, when it was known as Jesselton Airfield after the town's former name. It suffered significant damage from Allied bombing towards the end of the war, after which the Department of Civil Aviation of North Borneo took over its rehabilitation and operation for civilian use. Regular passenger services began in May 1949 with a weekly Malayan Airways flight from Singapore via Kuching and Labuan, extended to Sandakan later that year, and by 1950 the field was a stopover on Cathay Pacific's Hong Kong to Labuan route. Sabah Airways Limited, later Borneo Airways, began domestic services in 1953 linking Kota Kinabalu with towns across Sabah. The original grass strip was resurfaced with bitumen in 1957, and the runway was progressively lengthened to accommodate larger aircraft: to 1,593 m by 1959 for Viscount turboprops, and to 1,921 m by 1963 for Comet 4 jets. Cathay Pacific introduced a twice-weekly Convair 880 jet service to Hong Kong via Manila in 1967. In 1992 the airport passed from the Sabah Department of Civil Aviation to Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad under corporatisation. A major expansion approved in 2005 extended the runway from 2,988 m to 3,780 m and substantially enlarged Terminal 1, enabling operations by aircraft as large as the Airbus A380 and relocating the control tower to a new standalone structure.
Kota Kinabalu International Airport remains the second busiest airport in Malaysia by both passenger and aircraft movements, and the main hub for MASwings with secondary hub status for Firefly and Malaysia Airlines, as well as being AirAsia Malaysia's second-largest base after KLIA2. Alongside its scheduled international and domestic traffic, the airport is home to several general aviation operators with their main bases on the field, including Sabah Air Aviation, Sabah Flying Club, Sazma Aviation and Layang Layang Aerospace, making it a live option for visiting light aircraft as well as airline traffic.