Felda Semenchu Airport

The airport was closed due to economic and logistical obsolescence. It was a private airstrip primarily serving the FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority) palm oil plantation. With the significant improvement and expansion of the road network in Johor and specifically to the Bandar Penawar area, ground transportation became far more cost-effective and efficient for moving personnel, supplies, and produce. The need for a dedicated, expensive-to-maintain airstrip diminished until it was no longer viable.

The airport is completely abandoned and defunct. Satellite imagery of the coordinates shows a clearly defined, single paved runway that is severely dilapidated and overgrown with grass and other vegetation. The surrounding palm oil plantation is encroaching on the site, and plantation access roads appear to cross the former runway. There are no remaining functional airport buildings or infrastructure.

Felda Semenchu Airport was a private airstrip integral to the development and operation of the FELDA Semenchu settlement, a major palm oil plantation. In the 1970s and 1980s, when road access to these remote agricultural schemes was limited, the airstrip was a vital link. It handled light aircraft operations for several key purposes: transporting plantation managers, government officials, and VIPs; delivering urgent supplies and equipment; and, most importantly, facilitating agricultural aviation, such as aerial spraying (crop dusting) of pesticides and fertilizers over the vast oil palm estates.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Felda Semenchu Airport. The region's aviation needs are comprehensively served by the nearby Senai International Airport (JHB) in Johor Bahru. The development of the Desaru Coast tourism hub relies on road connectivity from Senai Airport, making the revival of a small, remote airstrip like Semenchu economically unfeasible and strategically unnecessary.