Old Bintulu airport building of the 1950's and 70's

Old Bintulu airport building in 1955
Picture Credit :  Ho Ah Choon, Sarawak in Pictures -1940's -70's, Sarawak Press Bhd, Kuching.
Picture shows passengers alighting from the plane and walking towards the old Bintulu airport building (of the 50's - 60's) which was basically wooden in structure, with grass-surface runway.

 In the 1968, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines introduced the 28-seater plane called Fokker Friendship or in short F 27.  The F27 served well the needs of Bintulu prior to its first economic boom (1979 -83), since traffic was not heavy.  The picture below shows the F27 plane at the tar-sealed tarmac.  However, with the influx of temporary workers, visitors, investors and businessmen etc. coming to town to partake in the  first boom, larger capacity planes were needed to meet the increasing traffic flow in and out of Bintulu.  Thus the F27 was replaced by F50 aircraft in 1981 as it could carry 62 passengers.  Bintulu old airport and building was closed in 2003.

View of Bintulu airport building, circa early 1970's - showing F27 parking at the tarmac.
Note the Fire Brigade or Bomba building at left, Main airport building and tower at center, and extreme right is the departure lounge.
This old Bintulu airport and building was closed in 2003 as it was replaced by a new airport and buildings some 23 km south of Bintulu town.

Old Bintulu airport building in 1955

Old Bintulu airport building as seen in 1955
Picture credit: Ho Ah Choon, Sarawak in Pictures - 1940's -70's, Sarawak Press Bhd, Kuching.

 The airport buildings were made of timber and even the row of private individual houses fronting the airport (at the background of the picture) were also made of timber structures and roofing of "belian" shingles.  The picture shows passengers alighting from the aircraft and going to the arrival/departure building at right of the picture.

The site of the old Bintulu airport building taken on 13.12.13.
Note the  low rise nature and construction of shophouses in concrete and roofing of metallic sheets.

Bintulu is one the most interesting places to visit in the early days of its development because of the ease of arriving and departing Bintulu town.  The airport was located right in the midst of town.  According to records, the Bintulu airport was built in 1938 but construction was halted when the Japanese invaded Bintulu in 1941.  After the war was over, construction was renewed and completed in August 1955.  The first civil aircraft to land at the Bintulu airport on the morning of 26th August 1955 was "Rapide" - a twin rotor aircraft with wings made of canvas.  Later a Twin Pioneer - 16 seater plane was in operation to replace the "Rapide".  Other types of planes used in succeeding years were the Fokker Friendship and Fokker 50.  With the construction of a new airport  and its use, the old airport was abandoned and the site cleared and used for miscellaneous functions like fun fair, kite flying, and free car parking spaces.
 The old airport was officially closed on 29 March, 2003 and flights in and out of Bintulu were handled by a new airport built 23 kilometers away from the town centre, towards the south of Bintulu town.

Bintulu in 1955

Wooden shophouses facing the Main Bazaar Road in 1955 ( B&W photo)

(Photo credit : Ho Ah Choon, Sarawak in Pictures - 1940's - 1970's , Sarawak Press Bhd, Kuching)

The Bintulu town centre in 1955 was located close to the river bank. The shophouses were of wooden structure and were wholly owned by the Chinese. The shop owners have individual jetties and small wharves to enable boats and motor launches park close to the town. Typical of the shophouses in the 50's, the posts and joists of the buildings were constructed with 'belian' wood ( Sarawak's hardest timber species). The roofing material were also of 'belian' shingles. The walls were built using sawn planks of lighter tropical hardwood species and only the ground floor was made of concrete. The estimated town population in 1955 was about 2,000 people.

A modern look to Bintulu town image

Date taken : 19 Nov'2010 ( Digital - Sony Cyber-shot)

Today, all the wooden shophouses are gone. They are replaced with permanent reinforced concrete four- storey buildings having concrete floors and walls of bricks. The roofing materials are generally of ceramic tiles or metal roofing sheets. The river bank is pushed further outwards due to reclamation works and the regained spaces allocated for urban amenities like car parks, esplanade and other waterfront development projects. The entire Bintulu population today is estimated at 200,000 people of various ethnic groups with the majority comprising of the Ibans.