Sepinggan International Airport
Sepinggan International Airport (IATA: BPN, ICAO: WALL) is the principal airport serving East Kalimantan area on the island of Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is located about 4.5 km east of Balikpapan. The airport began its new operational phase in 1997, with new building and runway structure, replacing old structure on the same site. This airport is named after Sepinggan, a village (kelurahan) in which the airport is located.The construction of Sepinggan had been started since the Dutch colonial era prior to Indonesian independence time. It was used mainly for the Dutch Oil Company's activities in Balikpapan area. The airport soon would become public and commercial airport after its management was handed over to Direktorat Jenderal Perhubungan Udara of Republic Indonesia in 1960. Sepinggan was finally managed by Perum Angkasa Pura I (PT Angkasa Pura I on present day) due to Government Regulation (PP) No.1 on January 9th 1987.
Sepinggan Airport had been renovated twice during 1991 until 1997. The first phase was started in 1991 and ended in 1994, in order to renovate the taxy way, passenger and cargo terminals and also lengthened the runway. In 1995, the Indonesian government announced Sepinggan as the fifth Indonesian hajj embarkation airport for kalimantan (borneo) region which also consists West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan province.
The second phase renovation took place in 1996 to renovate the hangars, fuel depots and the administration buildings. The second phase was finished and the airport finally started its new operational era with the new buildings and facilities in 1997.
In order to anticipate and accommodate larger aircraft in the future, the government plan to extend the runway into 3100 meters.[1]
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