Taiping Airport (IATA: TPG, ICAO: WMBI) is an airport in Taiping, Malaysia. It is located at Jalan Muzaffar Shah formerly Creagh Road, Assam Kumbang and also called as Tekah Airport. The airport was built in early 1929, this wooden structure aerodrome was the first airfield in the state of Perak and also in Peninsular Malaysia. The airstrip can accommodate the Fokker planes only, because the landing strip is too short for modern aircraft to land and take off.
Taiping Airport is the oldest airport in Malaysia. It was built by the British in 1929 for non-military use. Along with Alor Star Airport which was built in the same year, it was one of the earliest airports in Malaya. However, in 1933 more airports were built in Singapore, Selangor and Penang, and the Taiping Airport was no longer important.
In February 2007, the airport was chosen to be the hub for the Global Flying Hospitals, GFH. However, in July 2007, it was decided that Taiping Airport was not suitable as the flying hub, and the Chairman of GFH, Neill Newton, announced a new location will be selected, but not in Malaysia.
Famous quotes containing the word airport:
“Airplanes are invariably scheduled to depart at such times as 7:54, 9:21 or 11:37. This extreme specificity has the effect on the novice of instilling in him the twin beliefs that he will be arriving at 10:08, 1:43 or 4:22, and that he should get to the airport on time. These beliefs are not only erroneous but actually unhealthy.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)