S V Choong 4 Report post Posted August 14, 2016 Some ordinary traffic at TWU. But still, it is busy as usual for such a small airport. Photo credit to my friend. The MASWings ATR72s are mainly traffic from BKI, SDK and Tarakan, Indonesia. While AK traffic from BKI and KUL MAS traffic from KUL and BKI Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted February 11, 2018 (edited) Was arriving at TWU yesterday evening. To my surprise the traffic was extremely busy with aircraft struggling with parking bay. Here are some photos of the traffic movement yesterday. Enjoy! We were waiting at taxiway for parking bay. Cleared to disembark in front of Gate 2. Arrival of the RMAF A400M after 5 mins. Another AK pushed back for departure (and to give way to another AK which was waiting at taxiway). A320 and A400M, we are happy Airbus family No more parking bay with the arrival of Maswings ATR72. SabahAir and a Bombardier are on the left. TWU needs some serious upgrades especially during peak hours as it can be extremely crowded with this tiny, small size airport. Edited February 11, 2018 by Ellist Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Firdaus Bolong 0 Report post Posted February 11, 2018 Is it because AK refuse to pay for the aerobridges? I noticed from your pics the aerobridge gates are empty. Strange considering in Kota Bharu, AK uses aerobridge all the time, I think its due to high ATR traffic by FY and OD. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mushrif A 3 Report post Posted February 11, 2018 Is that a sick AK 320 in the middle? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2018 Is it because AK refuse to pay for the aerobridges? I noticed from your pics the aerobridge gates are empty. Strange considering in Kota Bharu, AK uses aerobridge all the time, I think its due to high ATR traffic by FY and OD. AK usually doesn't utilize the aerobridges in TWU except in some rare conditions eg. heavy downpour, not sure if this is still true. Maybe it is due to cost. Is that a sick AK 320 in the middle? Not sure though, I was tracking on flightradar and noticed that there was an AK flight bound for BKI had been delayed for more than 6 hours, from scheduled departure 17.30 , to actual departure time 00.30. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Firdaus Bolong 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2018 I believe it is rare to have more than 2 AK a320s in TWU at one given time. Maybe its an execeptional situation where an aircraft is having a problem thus the 6hrs delay. Anyways I miss TWU, my hometown. Thx for the pics. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Waiping 12 Report post Posted February 13, 2018 (edited) Possible that one is from KUL and one from BKI. Then the ATR from SDK. I think there is also a permanent Sikorsky "Nuri" there. Only C130/A400 not scheduled by quite regular these days. AK6266 from BKI arrives 1320 AK5746 from KUL arrives 1335 MH2137 from BKI arrives 1345 So can be congested at times, not help by the slow immigration/security check. Edited February 13, 2018 by Waiping Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Firdaus Bolong 0 Report post Posted February 13, 2018 It is but TWU is more than capable to handle it. Compare to KBR with smaller arrival hall. Sometimes Malindo/FY ATR can arrive at the same time on top of AK A320 and MH 738. To make it even worse on some cases of delays, 2 OD ATR can arrive and depart within 2 minutes of each other. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted May 15, 2018 (edited) Was in Tawau last week for GE14. Here are the traffic on that day- Three MHs 738 at the same time. AK A320 was on final in the background. Two Maswings on the taxiway ready for departure. Inside the terminal Edited May 15, 2018 by Ellist Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted August 11, 2018 US Navy P-8 Poseidon is in Tawau today. On the other hand, for some reason the Maswings ATR72 has been grounded for a week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Samuel Chy 0 Report post Posted August 13, 2018 thanks for the update there Ellist~ thats mean there is at least 2 ATR grounded, 1 in KK MWF, and another in TWU MWA... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
S V Choong 4 Report post Posted August 19, 2018 Good to see USAF P-8 Poseidon in TWU Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) Happy Chinese New Year! RB has been sending down their brand new A320neo instead of the usual ATR72 for the BWN-TWU route Edited January 28, 2020 by Ellist Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
S V Choong 4 Report post Posted January 29, 2020 (edited) What is the load like for BWN-TWU route? Edited January 29, 2020 by S V Choong Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted January 29, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, S V Choong said: What is the load like for BWN-TWU route? Not too sure, some said it was a chartered flight during CNY, but the TWU airport manager told the local chinese paper that the equipment was upgraded to cater the surge of the passengers flying into TWU. Edited January 29, 2020 by Ellist Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
S V Choong 4 Report post Posted January 31, 2020 On 1/30/2020 at 2:22 AM, Ellist said: Not too sure, some said it was a chartered flight during CNY, but the TWU airport manager told the local chinese paper that the equipment was upgraded to cater the surge of the passengers flying into TWU. Probably Tawau's only International flight. What about the Tawau-Tarakan flight, does it still exist? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted February 2, 2020 On 1/31/2020 at 10:16 PM, S V Choong said: Probably Tawau's only International flight. What about the Tawau-Tarakan flight, does it still exist? Still exists, 3x weekly. 😊 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted March 20, 2021 (edited) Probably the most exciting news today for avgeeks in Tawau, TWU just welcomed the first ever wide body aircraft A333 at the apron today, operated as MasKargo P2C flight KUL-> KCH-> TWU-> HKG. https://www.theborneopost.com/2021/03/20/maskargo-launches-inaugural-tawau-hong-kong-flight/ 採用超大型A330-300空巴 湖港直飛貨運航線開跑 (for those who can read mandarin) Photo Credit: The Borneo Post. Aircraft registration number: 9M-MTA (not Harimau Malaya, unfortunately). More photos to follow.😁 Edited March 20, 2021 by Ellist Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jahur 0 Report post Posted March 21, 2021 (edited) 17 hours ago, Ellist said: Probably the most exciting news today for avgeeks in Tawau, TWU just welcomed the first ever wide body aircraft A333 at the apron today, operated as MasKargo P2C flight KUL-> KCH-> TWU-> HKG. https://www.theborneopost.com/2021/03/20/maskargo-launches-inaugural-tawau-hong-kong-flight/ 採用超大型A330-300空巴 湖港直飛貨運航線開跑 (for those who can read mandarin) Photo Credit: The Borneo Post. Aircraft registration number: 9M-MTA (not Harimau Malaya, unfortunately). More photos to follow.😁 Apparently the a333p2cargo will be 2x weekly doing TWU-HKG(Wednesday & Saturday) until Airasia and Malaysia Airlines restores optimum inter SDK/TWU/LHD feeder flights to BKI. As of now the fruit and seafood export supply chain is affected due to passenger airline frequency cuts from Movement order and foreign demand somehow is also peaking up. Usually Seafood and fruits exports are on multiple inter Sabah flights onboard atr72, 737s and a320s passenger belly(Each flight carrying 1tonne or so) flying into BKI then from there transferred to a Maskargo A332Fs or AK A320s flights to Hong Kong. At Hong Kong some of the items will be split up and flown on another dedicated air freight towards China and Japan. Before covid in rare cases the Japanese sometimes charter Private Jets to Bki Twu or SDK to pick up the goods. 😂 Edited March 21, 2021 by jahur Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted March 22, 2021 (edited) 18 hours ago, jahur said: Apparently the a333p2cargo will be 2x weekly doing TWU-HKG(Wednesday & Saturday) until Airasia and Malaysia Airlines restores optimum inter SDK/TWU/LHD feeder flights to BKI. As of now the fruit and seafood export supply chain is affected due to passenger airline frequency cuts from Movement order and foreign demand somehow is also peaking up. Usually Seafood and fruits exports are on multiple inter Sabah flights onboard atr72, 737s and a320s passenger belly(Each flight carrying 1tonne or so) flying into BKI then from there transferred to a Maskargo A332Fs or AK A320s flights to Hong Kong. At Hong Kong some of the items will be split up and flown on another dedicated air freight towards China and Japan. Before covid in rare cases the Japanese sometimes charter Private Jets to Bki Twu or SDK to pick up the goods. 😂 Thanks for the info, Jahur.😀 It is quite a surprise and rare occasion that MAB allowed wide body aircraft operations in TWU as this tiny airport doesn't really support and operate wide body movement. I guess they have pushed it really hard to make it happen and a dream comes true for the spotters like us in Tawau. Anyway, here is a photo captured by my friend Lensa Aviasi Tawau, enjoy! Edited March 22, 2021 by Ellist Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted March 22, 2021 More plane spotting photos at the inaugural flight event, photos credit: Lensa Aviasi Tawau Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jahur 0 Report post Posted March 23, 2021 17 hours ago, Ellist said: More plane spotting photos at the inaugural flight event, photos credit: Lensa Aviasi Tawau Looks like the next flight is due tomorrow and this coming Saturday. However nothing is loaded for next week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted March 27, 2021 On 3/23/2021 at 2:53 PM, jahur said: Looks like the next flight is due tomorrow and this coming Saturday. However nothing is loaded for next week. The schedule has been updated until mid of april, still plenty of opportunity to catch her at TWU😊 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BC Tam 2 Report post Posted March 29, 2021 So refreshing to see MH responding to demand as and when necessary nowadays 🙂 Who would have thought this possible pre-Covid ? Probably would have expected the more nimble and responsive Air Asia to have done the necessary instead ..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ellist 0 Report post Posted April 2, 2021 (edited) On 3/29/2021 at 9:29 PM, BC Tam said: So refreshing to see MH responding to demand as and when necessary nowadays 🙂 Who would have thought this possible pre-Covid ? Probably would have expected the more nimble and responsive Air Asia to have done the necessary instead ..... That is so true! That has also brought in some rare traffic into TWU which you probably thought impossible in the past, such as this - Harimau Malaya A330! Photo Credit: Lensa Aviasi Tawau Edited April 2, 2021 by Ellist Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
