Kuantan Airport
Kuantan Airport
Sultan Ahmad Shah Airport (IATA: KUA, ICAO: WMKD) is an airport that serves Kuantan, a city in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. The airport is located 15 km from the city. In 2009, the airport handled 226,912 passengers on 3,110 flights, though the airport is able to handle over one million passengers annually. In 2008, Taiwan and Tourism Malaysia co-operated so that there were 23 charter flights directly from Taipei to Kuantan Airport; this made Kuantan Sultan Ahmad Shah Airport the first airport on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia that received international flights. Passengers have to walk from the aircraft to the arrival hall. Co-located with the airport is RMAF Kuantan, housing 15 Squadron (BAE Hawk) and 17 Squadron (MiG-29) of the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
Location
3.775°N, 103.209°E · 18 m s. n. m. (58 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 2
Tower
ATIS (automatic information)
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
The airport was reported to have limited facilities for custom clearances in October 1983. The facility was planned to be expanded "in the next two or three months".
In January 1990, preliminary works for the expansion of the airport was made, with construction planned to start in mid-1990 and completed at the end of 1991. The project included upgrading and extension of the tarmac of the airport and construction of a new terminal building which cost RM 49 million and a road expansion project from the airport to the city centre which cost RM 100 million. The expanded airport opened on 1 July 1992 at a cost of RM 65 million.
Proposed relocation
Proposals for relocating the airport have been recorded since 2015, with early suggestions for it to be either located nearer to the coast at Penor, or possibly around the same area of its original location. The operational capacity of the current airport is severely limited, mainly due to the nature of the airport being co-located with the RMAF Kuantan (which poses risks to national security) and also constraints of being surrounded by residential areas, both of which make it difficult to increase the frequency of flights and its capacity for expansion. Adding to this, the airport infrastructure is outdated, lacking any jet bridges, and is small, insufficient for larger crowds.
Following this, there are also demands to establish a regional hub for international flights in the East Coast Peninsular Region, as stated in the "Rancangan Fizikal Negara ke-4".
The Menteri Besar of Pahang, Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail announced in July 2021 the development of a RM 10.5 billion aerospace city, integrating a new international airport with air cargo and MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) capabilities. This project is to be headed by Pahang Corporation Sdn Bhd (Pahang Corp) on an area measuring 5,024 ha in Chendor, adjacent to the ECRL railway station at Cherating, which is expected to be completed by early 2027. The development of this airport is expected to coincide with the establishment of Kuantan Port as an international logistics and manufacturing hub. This will also allow the return of full control of the air force base to the RMAF.
An MoU was signed between Pahang Corp, Gading Group Sdn Bhd and Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) on 12 July 2022. Construction is expected to commence in 2024 and the airport is expected to begin operations in 2026.
Airlines operating here · 2
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Mashell · Public domain · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Kuantan Airport (KUA). Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KUA
MLA
“Kuantan Airport (KUA).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KUA. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Kuantan Airport (KUA).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KUA.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Kuantan Airport (KUA). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KUA (Accessed: 18 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_kua,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Kuantan Airport (KUA)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KUA},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KUA}},
urldate = {2026-10-18},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-18}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KUA |title=Kuantan Airport (KUA) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-18 |language=en}}