Suai Airport (IATA: UAI, ICAO: WPDB), officially Commander in Chief of FALINTIL, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, International Airport (Portuguese: Aeroporto Internacional Comandante-Chefe das FALINTIL, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão, Tetum: Aeroportu Internasionál Komandante Xefe FALINTIL, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão), and also known as Covalima Airport, is an airport serving Suai, in Cova Lima Municipality, East Timor.[5][6][7][8]
Location
The airport is located 4 km (2.5 mi) east of Suai,[1][2][3] in the southwestern corner of the suco of Labarai [de], which is part of the Suai administrative post.[9] The airport's runway (16/34) is oriented broadly north–south.[1][4]
In April 1983, an Indonesian State-owned airline, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, started operating a Kupang–Dili–Maliana [id]–Covalima/Suai flight.[12] In 1985, that service was being flown twice a week.[12] As of the mid-1990s, Merpati was still flying into Covalima/Suai,[13] and in mid 1999, Merpati was operating one flight a week on a Dili–Covalima/Suai–Kupang routing, using an Indonesian-built CASA turboprop aircraft.[14]: 129–130
At around that time, the terminal was remodelled and fitted with air conditioning.[16]
In the lead-up to the airport's upgrading in the mid-2010s, its runway was an 'all weather' asphalt strip 1,053 m (3,455 ft) long and 19.3 m (63 ft) wide that could accommodate aircraft as large as a C-130. In general, the airport was for day time use only, but helicopter operations could be supported at night.[16]
East Timor's national Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030 identified a need to extend and refurbish the runway and build new modern facilities.[5]
After a significant upgrading, the airport in its present form was officially inaugurated on 20 June 2017, and named in honour of East Timorese resistance leader and statesman Xanana Gusmão.[5][17][18] The facilities added during the upgrading included a new sealed runway, a terminal building, a control tower, hangars for five large helicopters and fire fighting equipment.[18] The Indonesian State-owned enterprise PT Waskita Karya carried out the upgrading, at a total cost of US$86.7 million.[19]
On 28 September 2018, the airport hosted its first international arrival, a charter flight from Darwin, Australia, operated by Northern Oil & Gas Australia (NOGA).[20]
As of 2019[update], the airport was barely being used,[21] and usually had no more than one flight a day.[22]
Facilities
As upgraded, the airport has modern facilities complying with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for the safe operation of airplanes, light aircraft and helicopters. The facilities include a 1,500 m (4,900 ft) runway, a terminal building, a control tower, a fire station, a meteorological station and a helipad with medevac air ambulance capability.[5][17]
^Stroud, Michael (21 March 1974). "World airline directory". Flight International. 105 (3393): 1, at 58. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
^ abPedersen, Jon; Arneberg, Marie (1999). Social and Economic Conditions in East Timor(PDF) (Report). New York: International Conflict Resolution Program School of International and Public Affairs Columbia University / Oslo: Fafo Institute of Applied Social Science. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
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