Bima Airport – formally known as Sultan Muhammad Salahuddin Airport – is a small airport on the island of Sumbawa in Indonesia. It’s popular with scuba divers and surfers heading to their next adventure.
Plane on apron, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
If you’re flying to Bima, then you’re probably going scuba diving or surfing. It’s the starting point for divers to access local dive resorts, a handful of liveaboards that are heading to Komodo or Saleh Bay, and Kalimaya Dive Resort, which is couple of hours drive from the airport on the north west coast.
Surfers head south to the Lakey Peak area, which is famous for its surfing breaks. Lakey Peak is about a 90 minute drive from Bima airport. The town of Bima itself is about 10 kilometres from the airport.
Airport Terminal exterior, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
Bima Airport itself is small but modern – it’s a very pleasant provincial airport. It’s one of two airports on Sumbawa, the other being Sultan Muhammad Kaharuddin III Airport which is located in the north western area of the island.
Air control tower, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
Sultan Muhammad Salahuddin Airport’s IATA airport code is BMU while Sultan Muhammad Kaharuddin III Airport airport is SWQ. Before Bima airport was renamed as Sultan Muhammad Salahuddin Airport, it was previously known as Palibelo Airport.
Airport arrivals area interior, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
Arriving in Bima gives you a beautiful view of the coast from the air. Once on the ground, you get a fabulous view of the mountains surrounding the airport – it’s very pretty and the sky always seems to be a gorgeous shade of blue. The moon might be visible in the middle of the afternoon too.
Luggage conveyor belt, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
You’ll probably arrive on a small twin prop plane which means you’ll walk down a flight of stairs onto the tarmac and walk across the apron. No skybridges or airport transfer buses here – you simply step down from the plane and walk across to the airport building which lets you take in the view.
Airport building interior, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
Once inside the terminal building, there’s a very simple but clean and pleasant luggage collection area with two conveyor belts. There’s decent toilets too and a taxi counter. There is absolutely nothing else here – not even a kiosk to buy water or snacks – so bring anything you need. A nice mural cheers things up too.
Plane luggage collection, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
Directly outside the Arrivals exit door there’s the carpark and a lot of touts waiting. If you’re meeting someone from your resort or liveaboard, they’ll be waiting here. There will also be luggage porters who can be quite insistent about helping you even if you don’t want to be helped. So be aware of that.
If you’ve got a long drive ahead of you, ask your driver to stop at an Alfamart (the local version of 7-11) to pick up water and snacks.
Departures check-in area, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
If you’re departing from Bima Airport, the check in area is also small and spartan but clean and efficient. The staff were very helpful both at check-in and security. The security scanning area is right next to check-in and once through that you go upstairs to the departure lounge.
Departure lounge, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
The departure lounge is a very pleasant design with lots of natural light and a high ceiling but decent air-con and a clever external design which shades the windows from a lot of the sunlight.
View from the Departure Lounge, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
There are a couple of small kiosks in the departure lounge selling coffee, soft drinks and snacks. There’s also a phone charging station.
Departure lounge, Bima Airport, Sumbawa, Indonesia © [email protected]
At the time of writing, there’s a daily direct flight from Bali Denpasar Airport to Bima with Wings Air (part of the Lion group). From Jakarta you usually have to go via Lombok, which means the flight arrives at Lombok and you stay on the plane until passengers come on and the flight takes off again for Bima.
Most flights from Bima to Bali also go via Lombok. Use Skyscanner to see all possible routes, timings and prices.
Don’t forget to apply for your Indonesia visa online before you enter the country (usually via Bali or Jakarta). You can do it on arrival but it’s much quicker to do it online before you arrive. Same with your customs declaration.
View of Sumbawa coastline descending to Bima Airport © [email protected]
