SHADESCENE has recently released their rendition of Tawau Airport (WBKW) for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and 2024. The airport serves the Tawau Division in Malaysia and has a yearly average of 572,365 passengers.

The airport was inaugurated in December 2001, replacing Tawau’s former main airport. It was small and tricky due to its very short runway (one of the shortest in Malaysia), which caused great concern overall. 

The official inauguration only happened two years later, in 2003. 

Its passenger terminal has one and a half stories, with two jetways and the ability to accommodate up to 8 airplanes simultaneously.

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Before COVID-19, the airport was operating above maximum capacity, reaching 1.8 million passengers yearly, significantly exceeding its intended 1.4 million passenger capacity. A plan was made to expand it to 2.5 million passengers and upgrade the passenger facilities and overall infrastructure.

COVID put a halt to the expansion plans, and in 2022, they were still facing the same issue, constantly suffering from congestion.

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In 2023, the government allocated a substantial sum for an improvement program, including extra toilets, an enhanced check-in area, an expanded departure lounge, more retail spaces, and more air conditioning units.

A year later, a new plan was announced, encompassing a major expansion set to begin in 2025. The expansion will bring the main terminal from 15,800 square meters to 23,500, add eight new check-in counters, and more. The new capacity would remain aligned with the previous project at 2.5 million passengers annually.

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AirAsia, Batik Air Malaysia, Firefly, Malaysia Airlines, and MASwings serve it.

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The scenery features an accurate rendition of the airport, with custom terraforming, custom scenery objects, custom ground textures, custom night lighting, and more.

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It’s available on SimMarket for roughly $14.02, requiring at least 345.46 MB of free hard disk space to install.

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