What is Polonia International Airport?

Polonia International Airport|
IATA: MES - ICAO: WIMM
Summary
Airport type		Military/Public
Operator		Military of Indonesia
Serves		Medan
Elevation AMSL		114 ft (35 m)
Coordinates
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
05/23	9,514	2,900	Asphalt

Polonia International Airport (IATA: MES, ICAO: WIMM) is located in the city of Medan, Indonesia, about 5km from the Central Business District. It serves flights to several Indonesian and Malaysian cities, along with a flight to Singapore.

Runway and Facilities

There is a single asphalt runway (05/23) which is 2900 m long and 45 m wide. There is no run-off and the airfield is surrounded by residential areas, a fact which led to deaths of residents in the crash of Mandala Airlines Flight 091 in September 2005.

It is often said that its location in a residential district, the wealthy Polonia area, is due to a superstition that the loud noises from aircraft would drive away malevolent spirits. This explains why the airport is located within the city, rather than outside it as with most airports.

The airport consists of an international and domestic terminal. A fire in the international arrivals area in 2006 caused damage to the airport, reducing the baggage reclaim area to a small section inside the terminal.

The inappropriate siting of the airport in the middle of the city has been implicated in four crashes:

• the 1979 crash of a Garuda Fokker F28-1000 plane that killed 64 people
• the 1987 crash of a Garuda McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 killing 32 people, after hitting one of the city's electricity pylon on approach
• the 1997 crash of Garuda Flight 152, an Airbus A300B4-200 killing 234 people (where the plane crashed into mountains near the city following misdirection from ATC and failure of ground proximity equipment)
• the 2005 crash of Mandala Airlines Flight 091, a Boeing 737-200 killing 149 people

The airport suffers from several problems, including a short 2,900 m runway with only 2,625 m of usable length, as well as proximity of Gunung Sibayak, location of the 1979 crash, as well as the airport's location in the middle of the city, surrounded by houses.

The airport also suffers from overcrowding with 4.5 million annual passengers in an airport designed for only 900,000.

These problems should be resolved by the construction of Kuala Namu International Airport, scheduled to open in 2009, a replacement airport, whose construction had been promised 10 years ago, after the 1997 crash. According to a spokesman for the North Sumatra Planning Agency [1], "We hope the central government's promise to build Kuala Namu airport this September will be realized because the plan to move Polonia airport has been around for almost 10 years. The airport is no longer suitable (as an international airport) and many victims have died there". Construction begun 29 June 2006.

Airlines and Destinations

The following destinations are served from Medan (as of February 2007):

• Adam Air (Banda Aceh, Jakarta, Penang)
• AirAsia (Kuala Lumpur)
• Indonesia AirAsia (Jakarta)
• Batavia Air (Jakarta)
• Garuda Indonesia (Banda Aceh, Jakarta, Chennai[Starts November 1 2007], Singapore [starts March 2008])
• Kartika Airlines (Banda Aceh, Batam, Ipoh,Penang)
• Lion Air (Banda Aceh, Jakarta, Penang)
• Malaysia Airlines (Kuala Lumpur, Penang)
• Mandala Airlines (Jakarta, Padang, Pekanbaru, Batam [starts October 1 2007], Banda Aceh [starts October 1 2007])
• Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Pekanbaru,Kuala Lumpur)
• Singapore Airlines
• Silk Air (Singapore)
• Sriwijaya Air (Banda Aceh, Batam, Jakarta, Lhok Seumawe, Pekanbaru)
• Wings Air (Jakarta)
• Thai Airways International (Bangkok)

See also

• List of airports in Indonesia
• Kuala Namu International Airport

External link

• Destinations from Medan
• World Aero Data airport information for WIMM