Sittwe Airport is an airport in

Sittwe Sittwe (, ), formerly Akyab (), is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptying into the Bay of Bengal. As of 2019 the cit ...

Rakhine State Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. In Burmese it is known as စစ်တွေ လေဆိပ်. It started as

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station RAF Akyab, a military airfield in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was handed over to Department of Civil Aviation by International Aero Limited Company on 24 July 1947. It was upgraded to long and wide gravel mixed asphalt runway in 1960. The airport building was extended to from and it was opened on 22 March 2002. 4 feet thick asphalt concrete layer was placed on the runway, the taxiway and the apron and opened on 20 May 2009 for use of F-28 jets. Taxiing Aircraft at Sittwe Airport

It is equipped with HF, VHF, NDB, Night Landing Facilities such as airfield lighting, approach light and remote control air ground machines. It admits over 90,000 passengers in 2010-11 and it is expected to accommodate 150,000 passengers for arrival and departure yearly. In early 2024 it was reported that conscription-age passengers arriving at this airport were interrogated by members of the

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

, with some being taken to a nearby military base to begin their period of conscripted service in the forces of the military junta due to the country's civil war.

Airlines and destinations

Accidents and incidents

*On 24 August 1972,

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a retired British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. T ...

XY-ADF of Union of Burma Airways was damaged beyond economic repair when it ran off the runway after landing 450 feet past the designated threshold and the undercarriage collapsed as the aircraft skidded for some 1,250 feet.

References

Sittwe Airports in Myanmar Buildings and structures in Rakhine State {{Myanmar-airport-stub