Frans Kaisiepo Airport
| Frans Kaisiepo Airport | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Characteristics | |
| ICAO code | WABB |
| IATA code | BIK |
| Coordinates | |
| Height above MSL | 14 m (46 ft ) |
| Transport links | |
| Distance from the city center | 1.5 km east of Kota Biak |
| Basic data | |
| opening | 1951 (civil) |
| operator | PT (Persero) Angkasa Pura I |
| Start-and runway | |
| 11/29 | 3570 m × 45 m concrete |
The Frans Kaisiepo airport ( Indonesian Bandara Frans Kaisiepo , IATA : BIK , ICAO : WABB ) is on the Indonesian island of Biak lying international passenger airport , which by Frans Kaisiepo , the fourth governor of the province of Papua is named. At the time of its civil opening, the airport was in the colony of Dutch New Guinea and was named Mokmer (later Biak-Mokmer ).
history
The Japanese occupation forces used forced labor in 1942 to build a military field airfield west of the village of Mokmer . After Biak was captured by the Allied forces in November 1944, the Royal Australian Air Force used the airfield as a base until 1947. After the withdrawal of the Australian units, Mokmer Airfield served as an aircraft graveyard for the United States Air Force .
While Indonesia gained independence in 1945, Western New Guinea remained owned by the Netherlands . In 1947, civil aviation was resumed in the Dutch New Guinea colony . At first only Boroku airfield was used for civilian purposes on Biak. In the early 1950s, the Dutch administration made the decision to close this airfield and instead gradually expand the Mokmer Airfield, which was reopened in 1951, into an international airport. Among other things, a new terminal was built for this purpose . From the mid-1950s offered KLM Royal Dutch Airlines from Amsterdam outgoing scheduled flights at the airport Mokmer that as hub served in the region. The company also made its connection to Sydney through this airport. After the runway was extended to its current length of 3,750 meters, KLM began using Douglas DC-8 jet aircraft on long-haul routes via Biak to Australia from the early 1960s . In August 1962, the Netherlands ceded the airport to the UN , when it was active in the region as part of the UNSF mission.
After the airport officially became the property of Indonesia on May 1, 1963, it lost its importance due to the discontinuation of international scheduled flights. In 1984 it was given its current official name, Frans Kaisiepo . The airport is currently served by Garuda Indonesia and Susi Air, among others, on regional scheduled flights.
Incidents
- On July 16, 1957, a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation crashed into the sea on KLM Flight 844 near Biak. The pilots who had recently started from Mokmer Airport planned to fly over it at low altitude. The cause of the accident, in which 58 of the 68 occupants died, could not be clarified.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bandar Udara, Frans Kaisiepo
- ↑ a b c Frans Kaisiepo Airport, History of the Airport (in Indonesian) ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Pacificwrecks.com, Mokmer Airfield (Mokmer Drome)
- ^ KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, flight plan April 1957
- ↑ KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, June 1961 flight plan
