This post is about a small airport in Malaysia, or to be more precise in the State of Terengganu which is Kerteh Airport (IATA: KTE / ICAO: WMKE). The airport's name itself tells us its location which is Kerteh Town. Kerteh is a small town in the district of Kemaman, Terengganu. It is the base of the oil and gas operation by PETRONAS, the Malaysian oil and gas company. Oil platforms are off Terengganu's coast while the oil refining operation is located in Kerteh.
Unlike other airports in Malaysia which are owned by the government of Malaysia, this airport is the only private (non-government) airport in the country where it is owned by PETRONAS. Its operator is also different than other Malaysian airport. Again, PETRONAS is the airport operator instead of Malaysian Airport Berhad (MAB) that operates other airport in Malaysia.
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| Kerteh Airport check-in counter. Letters spelling 'PETRONAS' on the background symbolises PETRONAS as the airport's owner and operator. This is also shown by 'KERTIH AIRPORT' spelling using the same font as PETRONAS logo. |
The airport has a single 1,362 m (4,469 ft) long runway in the direction of 16/34. The main purpose of this airport is to cater the transport of employees to the offshore oil platforms using helicopter services. For that purpose, two helicopter operators which are Malaysian Helicopter Services (MHS) and Westar Aviation are based at this airport. Each operator has their own helicopter maintenance and services at Kerteh Airport.
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| Helicopter hangars at Kerteh Airport. Westar Aviation hangar is on left while MHS hangar is on the right. |
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| ATR 72 entering runway 16 for take off. |
Besides catering air transport to employee, this airport also caters scheduled domestic flight, making it the second airport that caters scheduled flight in Terengganu after the main Sultan Mahmud Airport in Kuala Terengganu. This also makes Terengganu to have two operational airport for scheduled flight, unlike most other states in Peninsular Malaysia which only have single airport. Other states in Peninsular Malaysia that have more than one airport are Kedah (Langkawi Intl. Airport and Sultan Abdul Halim Shah Airport) and Selangor (KL Intl. Airport and Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport). The airlines that operates scheduled flight at Kerteh Airport are Firefly and Malindo, both using ATR72 turboprop aircraft.
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Malindo Air (Top) and Firefly (bottom) on the tarmac of Kerteh Airport. Both airlines use ATR 72 aircraft. |
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| Just landed on runway 34 from Kuala Lumpur. A helicopter from the oil platform taking the next turn to land. |
1. Kuala Lumpur (Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Subang Airport) to Kerteh Airport
2. Kerteh Airport to Kuala Lumpur (Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Subang Airport)
3. Landing at Kerteh Airport.
