AIR ASIA (Malaysia)
Banda Aceh (BTJ) - Kuala Lumpur (KUL)
November 15th, 2016
AK-422
Airbus A320
Reg code: 9M-AHD
Dep: 8.50 a.m. (WIB / UTC+7)
Arr: 11.10 a.m. (MST / UTC+8)
It was time for me to left the homestay to the Banda Aceh's Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport. The homestay owner offered me a ride with his motorbike. He only requested me IDR 30.000 as a tip. It was far cheaper than taking a taxi to the airport which costed around IDR 90.000.
On the way to the airport, we passed Kuburan Massal Siron, a mass grave containing bodies of victims of the 2004 tsunami.
We reached the airport at 7.30 p.m, a hour before boarding.
Check in counters were not so crowded, and as usual, I did not have any things to do here as I had done online check-in before.
Here is the boarding pass.
The airport had only 10 scheduled flights at the day, and our AirAsia would only the international flight.
Then I went upstairs and I was surprised that there was a long queue for immigration and safety check. Majority of them were Malaysians returning home after visiting the Aceh region. Aceh has becoming more popular to Malaysians.
After the immigration and security check, we waited for boarding. The waiting room was comfortable enough, with some facilities like "Kids Zone" and 4 PCs free to use.
Map of Aceh Province at the waiting area.
Then our aircraft arrived from Kuala Lumpur. The aircraft registration code was 9M-AHD, delivered on October 2007.
On the other side, a Batik Air A320 was ready for departure to Jakarta (Halim Airport).
The airport main building, viewed from the apron side.
Time for boarding.
Entering the aircraft.
Our seat at 9th row.
The seat pitch was similar to other LCCs. Comfortable enough for a 90 minutes journey.
Then the aircraft flew to the sky, leaving the Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport, very smoothly. I could see Seulawah mountain range on the window. Very beautiful.
Not so long after that, the aircraft faced bad weather condition for about 7 minutes. Then the seat belt signs were switched off, and I could open the table.
Cabin condition.
Let's see any stuff in the seat pocket.
Safety card.
3Sixty magazine.
"Rokki", an entertainment portal that could be reached by your handset through their Wi-fi spot on board. I succesfully accessed their portal and watched some videos there.
Shopping catalogue.
"Santan" onboard meals catalogue. At that time, I did not buy any meal offered.
Around 30 minutes before landing. On the window we could see West Malaysian seashore.
Finally the aircraft landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport smoothly without any problems. From the runway, our aircraft proceed to klia2, the LCC terminal.
There were AirAsiaX A330 aircrafts.
Time to say goodbye to our AirAsia 9M-AHD.
Another AirAsia at its right side.
Final snapshot outside the window.
Way to the main area of the terminal building.
After that, there was immigration check before the baggage area.
From the terminal building, we entered the Gateway KLIA2 mall. Here I bought a Malaysian SIM card.
From the airport, I boarded a Starmart express bus to Malacca. Please read the next post for details.
