The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and the Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) would like to inform the public that the Brunei International Airport operation was back to normal as early as 2:00am on 8th May 2013 after a heavy rainfall at about 11:00pm on the 7th May flooded the arrival hall of the airport and caused inconvenience to the arriving passengers on the late night flight. The incident, however caused no major disruption or flight delays.
The Airport Modernization Project Team had identified that the flooding, which lasted for about one and half hours was caused by ingress of water through the existing sump/outlet within the arrival hall. The flooding however caused no significant damage to existing property and equipment within the arrival hall. Swift actions by the airport authorities and other agencies including the Fire and Rescue Department, representatives of Department of Drainage and Sewerage, PWD and the contractors have enabled the arrival hall to resume normal operation by 2:00am in the morning.
In consultation with the Ministry of Communications and Department of Civil Aviation, the BEDB will be carrying out remedial measures to avoid such incidents from happening in the future. This includes widening and deepening the temporary drain network around the arrival hall and providing temporary pumps to drain rainwater from the affected area.
The BEDB and DCA would like to apologize for the inconvenience experienced by the arriving passengers and their family members as well as other airport users.
The country experienced one of the heaviest rain falls on the evening of 7 May 2013 when 181 millimetres of rain was recorded in Bandar Seri Begawan which have also caused flooding in certain parts of the highways as well as areas in Sengkurong, Mulaut and Kilanas.