About Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport

Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport, (IATA: BPN, ICAO: WALL), formerly Sepinggan Airport, is an international airport serving East Kalimantan area on the island of Kalimantan, Indonesia. The airport began its new operational phase in 1997, with new building and runway structure, replacing old structure on the same site. With numerous buildings located around the airport and its only runway jutting out into the settlement, landings at the airport are dramatic to experience and technically demanding for pilots.

Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport is the 6th busiest airport in Indonesia and the busiest airport in Kalimantan and Borneo, but the traffic continues to fall sharply. From October to December 2014 (in 5-15 million passengers capacity category), Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport becomes the world's 16th best in Airport Service Quality or the best in Southeast Asia by Airport Council International survey among 79 airports with passengers capacity between 5-15 million a year.

The construction of Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport started in the Dutch colonial era before Indonesian independence. It was used mainly for the Dutch Oil Company's activities in the Balikpapan area. The airport soon became public and commercial after its management was handed over to Direktorat Jenderal Perhubungan Udara of Republic Indonesia in 1960. Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport was finally managed by Perum Angkasa Pura I (PT Angkasa Pura I on present day) due to Government Regulation (PP) No.1 on 9 January 1987.

Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport had been renovated twice from 1991 to 1997. The first phase was started in 1991 and ended in 1994, to renovate the taxiway, passenger and cargo terminals and lengthen the runway. In 1995, the Indonesian government announced Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport as the fifth Indonesian hajj embarkation airport for Kalimantan region which also consists West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan province.

The new terminal was tested on 22 March 2014 with capacity 10 million passengers per year in 110,000-meter square area. The Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Eco-Airport is equipped with recycling water plant, air condition control of energy efficiency, using as much as it can of sun lighting, has 11 trunk alleys, 74 check-in counters, 8 conveyor belts, 140,900-meter square apron, 2,300 parking lot in multi storey building. The new terminal is formally opened on September 15, 2014.

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