 Preparation of construction began in 1997, but the Asian Financial Crisis that started in the same year postponed the development of Kualanamu Airport.Demand for the new airport continued following the Mandala Airlines Flight 091 accident in September 2005 that occurred shortly after taking off from Polonia for Jakarta.This accident killed the incumbent North Sumatran governor at that time Tengku Rizal Nurdin and his predecessor Raja Inal Siregar, who died 1 day later from injuries.