Malacca International Airport (MKZ), Batu Berendam

Overview

Malacca International Airport is in Batu Berendam, the airport serves northern Johor as well as the state of Malacca. It is a public airport, owned by the Malaysian government and operated by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad. In 2012 there were 48,881 flights carrying 34, 881 passengers.

With the increase in medical tourism on the increase Malacca is one of the cities to benefit from this. With ever growing numbers of passengers coming from Sumatera in Indonesia the three local hospitals now operate a shuttle service between the airport and the hospitals.

The Malaysian Flying Academy uses the airport as their base and has been flying out of Malacca since 1987.

History

Malacca Airport is of historical significance as it was here on 20th February 1956 the first prime minster of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, landed here and announced the independence of Malaya from the United Kingdom. In 2006 an upgrade was started to the runway and the terminal increasing the passenger handling capacity from just 30,000 a year to 1.5 million. The new terminal opened in May 2009 and in February 2010 Batu Berendam was renamed Malacca International Airport.

Runways

The runway is 2045 metres long and can accommodate the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737. There are facilities to aid night-time landings at both ends of the runway which also help in bad weather conditions.

Terminals

The increasing number of business and leisure travellers to the historic state of Malacca has inadvertently brought ascending number of passengers to the airport. The terminal is quite small but has all the usual facilities of shops, places to eat and drink plus disabled access and Wifi.

Flights and Destinations

Wings Air – Pekan Baru

Sky Aviation – Pekan Baru and Tanjong Pinang

Transport To and From the Airport

The airport is approximately 10 kilometres from Malacca town and there are taxis outside and car hire can be booked prior to your arrival or at one of the desks at the airport.

Two buses stop within a couple of hundred metres of the airport if you want to be independent. The Batang Bus and Tuahbus go past the airport and will link you with Malacca bus station. From there you can get transport to all of the backpacker areas and Singapore as well as many other destinations.

There is no rail link in Malacca and nearest railway station is about 30 kilometres away. at Pulau Sebang.

Car parking is easy and is directly outside the terminal building.