Sultan Azlan Shah Airport

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Sultan Azlan Shah Airport Lapangan Terbang Sultan Azlan Shah
IATA: IPH ICAO: WMKI
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Khazanah Nasional
Operator	Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB)
Serves	Ipoh and southern Perak, Malaysia
Location	Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
Time zone	MST (UTC+08:00)
Elevation AMSL	130 ft / 40 m
Coordinates	04°34′09″N 101°05′35″E / 4.56917°N 101.09306°E / 4.56917; 101.09306Coordinates: 04°34′09″N 101°05′35″E / 4.56917°N 101.09306°E / 4.56917; 101.09306
Maps
Perak State in Malaysia
IPH/WMKI Location in Ipoh, Perak, Peninsular Malaysia IPH/WMKI IPH/WMKI (Peninsular Malaysia) IPH/WMKI IPH/WMKI (Malaysia) IPH/WMKI IPH/WMKI (Southeast Asia) IPH/WMKI IPH/WMKI (Asia) Show map of PerakShow map of Peninsular MalaysiaShow map of MalaysiaShow map of Southeast AsiaShow map of AsiaShow all
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04/22 2,000 6,562 Asphalt
Statistics (2020)
Passenger 100,585 ( 78.0%) Airfreight (tonnes) 0 () Aircraft movements 15,511 ( 27.5%)
Source: official web site[1] AIP Malaysia[2]

Sultan Azlan Shah Airport (IATA: IPH, ICAO: WMKI) is an airport that serves Ipoh, a city in the state of Perak, Malaysia. It is located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) away from the city centre. Sultan Azlan Shah Airport has been ranked as the seventh busiest airport in Malaysia.

History[]

Originating as a small airfield for Fokker aircraft, eventually being expanded so that jet operations could be accommodated. The then new airport terminal was made ready for the visit by Queen Elizabeth II to the Royal Town of Kuala Kangsar in 1989. The airport had then been used by many passengers (somewhat due to Malaysia Airlines serving the city and still being based in Subang).

Once the North-South Expressway opened, many people opted to use other methods rather than the often more expensive air travel; as a consequence of the lack of demand, Malaysia Airlines and later AirAsia withdrew their services. Following the introduction of electric trains having a direct link to Kuala Lumpur city centre, Malaysia Airports were forced to reconsider the financial viability of the site.^[3]

In the hopes of renewing the airport for use by larger airlines, a new and 'modern' terminal building and an extended runway were constructed at a cost of RM45 million. The runway length of 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) was so that larger aircraft like the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 family could land and take off. The key features of the new terminal were a larger and more spacious departure and arrival halls, full air-conditioning in the terminal, and increased passenger capacity.^[4]

Unfortunately the new runway was left to be restricted to turboprop airliners only, due to a number of potholes.^[5] Several months later, the issue was resolved,^[6] only to then have a repeated issue.^[7] Since then, the runway has been safe and used daily.

Malindo Air started a new service to Medan in 2018.

AirAsia resumed services from Johor Bahru to Ipoh in October 2018.

In December 2018, AirAsia launched services to Singapore from Ipoh.

Future[]

Upon the realisation by the Malaysian Government that the airport was unable to continue to expand (due to being surrounded by residential areas), there have been suggestions that sites further away from the city centre, in either Seri Iskandar or Batang Padang near Tapah. However, there have been no such actions in the subsequent years.

An alternative plan had been considered to utilise Ipoh as a feeder airport, as the airport was unable to compete with the larger and more established airports in Penang and Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

Several airlines have mentioned their desire to begin serving the airport, but only plans by Tigerair (now Scoot) have materialised.^[8] Other airlines based in China and Indonesia have also expressed interest.^[9]

In March 2017, the Perak state government announced that the airport's operators would be upgrading the terminal so that there would be more space for passengers.

Next year it is expected that the Perak state government will improve the airport and extend the runway from 2 to 2.5 kilometres (1.2 to 1.6 mi).

Airlines and destinations[]

Check-in and arrivals hall

Passenger[]

Traffic and statistics[]

Annual passenger numbers and aircraft statistics

Year	Passengers handled	Passenger % change	Cargo (tonnes)	Cargo % change	Aircraft movements	Aircraft % change
2003	115,286		498		1,572	11.88
2004	103,123	10.6	735	47.6	1,402	10.84
2005	74,451	27.8	437	40.5	1,145	18.31
2006	64,711	13.1	357	18.3	954	16.72
2007	814	98.8	10	97.2	12	98.73
2008	5,376	560.4	0	100	183	14252
2009	21,937	308.0	0		384	109.85
2010	48,508	121.1	0		844	119.84
2011	71,169	46.7	0		1,536	82.07
2012	73,354	3.1	34	167.4	1,515	1.49
2013	74,320	1.3	403	1091.4	1,464	3.45
2014	98,768	32.9	296	26.6	17,682	1107.888
2015	222,606	125.4	318	7.2	19,956	12.98
2016	269,696	21.2	178	44.1	14,137	29.28
2017	274,146	1.7	105	40.8	10,910	22.89
2018	315,673	15.1	142	35.1	10,369	5.0
2019	457,231	44.8	0		12,170	17.4
2020	100,585	78.0	0		15,511	27.5
Source: Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad[15]

Busiest international flights out of Sultan Azlan Shah Airport by frequency

Rank	Destinations	Frequency (weekly)	Airlines	Note
1	Singapore, Singapore	5	TR

Busiest domestic routes out of Sultan Azlan Shah Airport by frequency

Rank	Destinations	Frequency (weekly)	Airlines	Note
1	Johor Bahru, Johor	4	AK
2	Langkawi, Kedah	3	AK

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sultan Azlan Shah Airport.

• Sultan Azlan Shah Airport, Ipoh at Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad
• Location Map of Sultan Azlah Shah Airport
• Current weather for WMKI at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for IPH at Aviation Safety Network
• New Ipoh Airport Strategy,NST Online,17/03/2010