Talk:Kualanamu International Airport

Staring at white people
This paragraph, which was in "Understand" (a section about understanding the airport) doesn't strike me as at all specifically relevant to an article about an airport, as opposed to an article about a remote rural area, and this kind of content probably belongs in Indonesia, not here:

''If you are white, be prepared for the Indonesians who may stare at you and gossip to their family/friends about you. Seeing a bule (local term for whites) is a very precious and surprising thing for some Indonesians who grew up admiring foreign culture, so don't get offended if they do anything stupid, and smile!''

Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:43, 31 August 2020 (UTC)
 * , agreed. Thanks for noting.  Gerald WL  01:50, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I also noticed that the brief history of Kualanamu is also removed. Mind explaining?  Gerald WL  01:51, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Stated in this edit summary. I didn't think it was that short, and I don't see why most travelers would care about any of it. Is there any part of that history that you think is particularly interesting to read about, such that even if a traveler doesn't care about the details, it's diverting? Ikan Kekek (talk) 03:12, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * , nothing so unique, but I feel like its worth a small mention. I went to Newark Liberty International Airport which contains a brief history of it, so I feel like its okay. Giving its brief history will hopefully make the readers understand why its so far away from Medan. I'm new here, so there could be things I misunderstood. What do you think?  Gerald WL  03:59, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I would note that the Newark Airport article is only at outline level, so not necessarily the best example, overall, but let's look at the first paragraph in "Understand", the way you had it:
 * Kualanamu International Airport is made as a replacement for Polonia Airport, an airport located at the center of the city of Medan. Polonia is in danger due to increasing passengers and its small airport. The runway is also relatively short, making planes hard to take-off/land, also considering its location. So the government planned a new airport outside of Medan, and years later, Kualanamu was officially opened. Because Kualanamu is far from Medan (which is where most people are going to), it takes around one hour to go to the city (more on Ground transportation). 
 * OK, so what's Polonia Airport, and why do I want to know about it (I don't mean me, personally; I landed and took off from Polonia Airport in 1976, but that's beside the point)? My feeling is, this is encyclopedic and not very interesting but rather typical. Since you mentioned the Newark Airport article, let's look at the passage in question:
 * Newark opened in 1928 as the only airport in Metro New York, but became pretty deserted when LaGuardia Airport opened in Queens, New York. After World War II, commercial activity returned to the airport. Gradually, it grew to the massive international hub it is today.


 * Before 9/11, the airport was called "Newark International Airport". The word "liberty" was added to the airport's name after 9/11 to honor the victims, as one of the four hijacked planes that day, United Airlines Flight 93, took off from this airport. Additionally, the word "liberty" is also a reference to the Statue of Liberty 7 miles (11.4 km) east of the airport.


 * I could take or leave the first paragraph, but at least it starts from the beginning, with no assumption people will know or understand the relevance or importance of a preexisting airport. The second paragraph is background I think many readers would be interested in, because it's not just arcane locally-relevant facts but relates to a notorious historical massacre. Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:19, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * , since you mentioned "relates to a notorious historical massacre," there is a part of Kualanamu's construction delayed for 12 years due to the 1998 riots, which is a riot in the Reformasi era, if you've heard of it.
 * About Polonia, what if we talk about its accidents due to the short runway, and proceeding it is trivia on Kualanamu's long runway which could fit an A380? It could give context as to what Polonia is, and I found nearly similar paragraph in Hong Kong International Airport. Talking about Polonia will hopefully, as I said, make readers understand why it is placed far away from Medan.
 * What do you think again?  Gerald WL  05:24, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Feel free to write it, maybe put it here first, and you can see how people react to it. Ikan Kekek (talk) 06:38, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * "you can see how people react to it" sounds scary, but whatever.

''Kualanamu International Airport is made as a replacement for Polonia Airport, located at the center of Medan. Polonia was in danger due to increasing passengers and its small airport. The runway is also short, making planes hard to take-off/land, and often crashes too. It was also home to the deadliest crash in Indonesia.''

''A new airport was planned, but is delayed for 12 years due to the 1998 riots. To have a wider space for planes, they moved it to Deli Serdang, a place with wide lands. After 9 years of construction, Kualanamu was officially opened, and was called "the landmark of North Sumatra. Polonia is now Soewondo, a military base. In 2019, it's opened as a bookstore."''


 * I think one thing that will make this a lot more readable is using past tense for things that already happened. Ikan Kekek (talk) 08:21, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Done.  Gerald WL  11:21, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Not really. I'll do a quick edit:

''Kualanamu International Airport was built as a replacement for Polonia Airport, which was in the center of Medan. That small airport was in danger due to overcrowding. Also, its runway was short, making it challenging to take off and land and leading to a number of crashes, including the deadliest to occur in Indonesia.''

''Plans for the new airport were delayed for 12 years due to the 1998 riots. To have a wider space for planes, they sited it in Deli Serdang, outside the city. After 9 years of construction, Kualanamu was officially opened, and was called "the landmark of North Sumatra. Polonia is now Soewondo, a military base. In 2019, it opened as a bookstore."''


 * I edited more than just verb tenses. I also got rid of YouTube links, which are not in keeping with What not to link to (have a look at that). I also don't understand about the bookstore. If Polonia is no longer a military base, you need to say that if you want anyone to understand it. Ikan Kekek (talk) 11:37, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Yeah, it's a trivial trivia. And thanks for the policy citing :)  Gerald WL  11:39, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Sure thing. And I don't think this history is too long now, but the last 2 sentences still aren't clear yet. Ikan Kekek (talk) 11:41, 1 September 2020 (UTC)

Other airports in Sumatra
I wouldn't mention airports serving other cities, except if you are mentioning air routes. Those airports should be mentioned in the "Get in" sections of the articles for those cities. Ikan Kekek (talk) 11:40, 1 September 2020 (UTC)


 * Coming back to this: Pematangsiantar has no information about Silangit Airport, though Sibolga does have info about Ferdinand Lumban Tobing Airport. If Silangit Airport is important, it should be mentioned in the article about Siantar. However, these are not area airports useful for traveling to Medan, so once that information is added there, I continue to believe that it should be deleted here. Ikan Kekek (talk) 23:30, 7 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I think Silangit, with flights from Malaysia and it being an effective way to reach the area from KNO, should be mentioned in the article. But I think that's really the only thing important to note here.  Gerald WL  14:25, 8 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Maybe, but briefly. It's much more important to mention it in Medan. Ikan Kekek (talk) 19:50, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

Big enough for its own article?
Sorry to bring this up, given the effort User:Gerald Waldo Luis has put into the article, but on Wikivoyage we don't make articles for all airports. We just for make them for airports that are notable transit airports (ie. a large percentage of passengers just change planes), and such airports usually have at least a couple of long-distance flights to other continents.

As it reads in Airport Expedition linked to above, "The approach to airport guides has so far been somewhat ad-hoc, with no specific criteria as to when an airport guide is required as a separate article, the touchstone being really huge.". Is Kualanamu International big enough to have its own article? --Ypsilon (talk) 17:05, 1 September 2020 (UTC)
 * , Kualanamu for me is okay to have its own guide. It is a huge transit point to all Sumatran cities, and is the island's transit hub. It is also the second largest and most-used airport after Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta. I should probably change the wording-- the route map also encompasses Middle East (Jeddah and Medina). So I think it does deserve an article.  Gerald WL  01:23, 2 September 2020 (UTC)
 * I see, if it's also common for passengers to change planes in Kualanamu, then it'd be OK.
 * For example Jeju airport has 31 million passengers a year but practically everyone of them has the island of Jeju as starting point or final destination and almost nobody connects there, so information about that airport is handled in the Jeju article. Ypsilon (talk) 15:03, 2 September 2020 (UTC)
 * , thanks for the guidance. It really helps.  Gerald WL  01:58, 3 September 2020 (UTC)