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Lawas Airport (LWY)
Departures from Lawas Airport (LWY) at a glance
- 12flights a day16th busiest of 30 airports
- 4routes from here
- 1airline
- 08:15 – 17:45first and last
Collected 28 September 2026. Not live — check with the airline before booking.
Lawas Airport (LWY) serves Lawas, a frontier town in the Limbang Division of Sarawak, on the strip of Sarawak territory between Brunei's Temburong District and the state of Sabah. The current airport has operated since 1961 and was upgraded in 1996. A replacement airport on a new site was reported under construction in April 2026, and announcements about it have given different completion dates.
Flights from Lawas Airport
Direct domestic flights recorded from Lawas go to the places below, each with AirBorneo. AirBorneo took over full legal and operational responsibility for all services previously operated by MASwings from 1 January 2026, so a guide written before then may name the wrong airline.
| Destination | Airport | Airline recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Kota Kinabalu | Kota Kinabalu International Airport (BKI) | AirBorneo |
| Ba'kelalan | Ba'kelalan Airport (BKM) | AirBorneo |
| Limbang | Limbang Airport (LMN) | AirBorneo |
| Miri | Miri Airport (MYY) | AirBorneo |
AirBorneo Check-in and Baggage Rules by Aircraft
AirBorneo flies two aircraft types on its rural services in Sarawak and Sabah, the Twin Otter and the ATR72-500, and its conditions of carriage set different rules for each. The aircraft varies from route to route, so confirm with AirBorneo which one your Lawas flight uses before you pack. The airline also says check-in deadlines vary by airport and leaves it to the passenger to allow enough time.
| Rule | Twin Otter | ATR72-500 |
|---|---|---|
| Check-in | At the airport check-in counter only | Online check-in offered on ATR-served routes |
| Free checked baggage | 10 kg | 20 kg |
| Cabin baggage | 1 piece, 7 kg, 29 x 33 x 36 cm | 1 piece, 7 kg, 56 x 30 x 18 cm |
| Unaccompanied minors | Not accepted | May be accepted |
| At the boarding gate | At least 30 minutes before departure | At least 30 minutes before departure |
On a Twin Otter the free checked allowance is half the ATR's, check-in happens at the airport counter, and unaccompanied minors are not accepted. These are the amounts set in AirBorneo's conditions of carriage as of September 2026, so check them again before you fly.
Weather, Haze and Cancellations
AirBorneo's conditions of carriage count adverse weather among the causes of delay or cancellation outside its control. In those cases the airline has no immediate obligation to carry, re-route or refund passengers, only to make reasonable efforts to assist. On 1 September 2026, haze led AirBorneo to cancel selected flights based at Kuching even though runway visibility there had stayed above the airport's minimum.
Leave slack between a Lawas flight and any onward connection or fixed booking.
Sarawak Entry Rules for Domestic Travellers
Section 66 of the Immigration Act 1959/63 restricts Malaysian citizens' right of entry into Sabah and Sarawak, so a citizen from Peninsular Malaysia needs a pass or permit to enter and stay in Sarawak. For a short stay, the Immigration Department issues a single-journey Document in Lieu of Internal Travel Document at immigration counters in Sabah and Sarawak airport arrival halls, as an alternative to a passport, against a MyKad (or a birth certificate for a child under 12). It gives a Social or Business Visit Pass of up to three months.
For a stay of more than three months there is the five-year Restricted Travel Document, and the Immigration Department lists Lawas/Ba'kelalan among its Sarawak offices issuing it. The Kota Kinabalu flight crosses from Sabah into Sarawak, so Sarawak's entry rule still applies on a domestic flight. Leaving Sarawak on a domestic journey, you show one identity document (such as a passport, Restricted Travel Document or MyKad), a valid pass, and a boarding pass as proof that you are travelling.
The Replacement Lawas Airport Project
The current airport sits beside the meandering Lawas River, and the reasons given for moving it are flooding, erosion along the riverbank and the short runway. In April 2026, Malay Mail reported the Regional Corridor Development Authority (RECODA) as saying construction of the new airport had begun in 2025, with completion targeted for April 2028.
After an on-site progress meeting on 17 April 2026, RECODA listed the works then under way as a 4 km airport access road and the first phase of civil works (clearing, excavation, rock blasting, grading, drainage and embankments) on hilly terrain. It described the new airport as a 3C-class facility with capacity for over 100,000 passengers a year.
A 2022 announcement by Sarawak's Deputy Premier gave different dates: a start in the first quarter of 2023 and completion by the end of 2026. The same announcement put the new runway at 1,500 m, sized for the ATR72-500, as recommended by a 2016 Transport Ministry feasibility study.
Ba'kelalan by Air or by Road
Ba'kelalan is a group of villages in the Maligan Highlands of the Limbang Division, close to the border with Indonesian Kalimantan, and the flight from Lawas is the fast way to reach it. The overland alternative is a 4x4 journey from Lawas on old logging roads and through plantations, reported at roughly five to six hours and much harder in the rainy season. Published distances for that drive range from about 125 km to 150 km.
Ba'kelalan has a recorded tradition of salt-making at its natural salt springs, where the spring water is boiled down in iron drums over firewood until the salt crystallises. It was an apple-growing area from the 1980s to the late 1990s, and oranges and persimmons are now grown there as well. Mount Murud can be climbed from the area with a guide, as its trails are reported to be poorly marked.
Lawas Town and the Sabah Road Checkpoint
Lawas became a separate administrative district in 1905, within what was then the Fifth Division alongside Limbang, and the district's administrative centre moved from Trusan to Lawas. The Lawas District Council (Majlis Daerah Lawas) was established in 1954.
Lawas Townsquare (Dataran Bandar Lawas) has an amphitheatre, a jogging track and a football field, and sits near Tebingan Sungai Lawas, a popular local fishing spot. The Lun Bawang Association of Sarawak has organised the annual Irau Aco Lun Bawang (Lun Bawang Festival) since 1988. Its 37th edition was scheduled for 30 May to 1 June 2024 at Lawas Stadium, with cultural exhibitions, traditional sports such as tug-of-war and blowpipe, and visitors expected from Sabah, Brunei and Kalimantan; check the current year's dates before planning a trip around it.
Sarawak and Sabah extended the opening hours of the Merapok-Sindumin road checkpoint between the two states in April 2022, ahead of Hari Raya travel. Check the current hours before planning a late crossing into Sabah by road.