Minangkabau International Airport (IATA code: PDG, ICAO code: WIEE) or commonly abbreviated as BIM is the main international standard airport in West Sumatra province which serves flights to and from Padang City. The airport is about 24 km from the center of Padang City and is located in the Ketaping area, Batang Anai District, Padang Pariaman Regency. Minangkabau International Airport was built in 2001, and was fully operational on July 22, 2005 replacing Tabing Airport. BIM is the only airport in the world that uses ethnic names.

In 2006, the airport was established by the Ministry of Religion as a place of embarkation and debarkation of Hajj for the provinces of West Sumatra, Bengkulu and parts of Jambi. Since 1 July 2012, the airport's operating hours have been extended by PT Angkasa Pura II until 24.00 WIB, which was previously only opened until 21.00 WIB.

Development

Minangkabau International Airport was built as a substitute for Tabing Airport, which has no longer met the requirements in terms of flight safety after 34 years of use. The construction of this airport began in 2001 at a cost of around 9.4 billion Yen, with 10% of it (around 97.6 billion Rupiah) a soft loan from the Japan Bank International Corporation (JICB). The construction involved contractor Shimizu and Marubeni J.O. from Japan, and Adhi Karya from Indonesia.


Minangkabau International Airport stands on 4.27 km² of land with a runway of 2,750 meters with a width of 45 meters. Domestic and international flights are served by a terminal covering an area of ​​12,570 m² with a capacity of around 2.5 million passengers each year. This airport is the second airport in Indonesia after Soekarno-Hatta whose construction was carried out from the start. The airport development master plan is carried out in three stages, the second phase begins in 2010. After all stages have been completed, the airport runway will be extended to 3,600 meters, which is also equipped with parallel taxiways along the runway.

Access

Minangkabau International Airport can be accessed either by private vehicles, or public vehicles such as buses and taxis that operate daily from the City of Padang and other nearby cities. In addition there are also Damri buses that serve the BIM route — the Raya Market and the Tranex Mandiri bus route BIM — Lubuk Begalung. During 2011, the number of passengers at this airport has reached 1.3 million, more than double the target in 2010 of 622,000 passengers. In line with the development of the airport, the local government has built an elevated road at the intersection of the entrance to the airport, followed by the widening of the Tabing road - a 10 km long Duku which is part of the Padang - Bukittinggi road section.

On the other hand, PT (Persero) Kereta Api plans to add a new railway line of 4.2 km from Simpang Haru Station, Padang to the Minangkabau International Airport. For this reason, a railbus or short-line train has been brought in to serve this route. The railbus made by PT Madiun Railway Industry with a capacity of 150 passengers arrived at Simpang Haru Station on December 31, 2012 and was transported through the Port of Tanjung Perak, Surabaya on December 9, 2012 to Teluk Bayur Port, Padang.