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Malaysia to double airport capacity for 2 billion fliers in Asia
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Kuala Lumpur's KLIA: The data showed that self-connections are on the rise, with the average percentage of users choosing to self-connect over taking a flight route with a single carrier increasing to 12.6% last year, from 11.6% the previous year. (Shutterstock.com/Sorbis)
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alaysia Airports Holdings Bhd. plans to double Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s capacity as it seeks a bigger slice of the 2.1 billion more passengers expected in Asia Pacific in the next two decades.
The company is looking to raise the capacity to 150 million, from the current 75 million, in the next 10 to 20 years, Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin, chief financial officer of Malaysia Airports, said in an interview on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. The main terminal could reach full capacity in the next two years, he said.
“We have started studies on the optimization and expansion,” Raja Azmi said, declining to comment on how much the plan will cost. “The outcome will determine the configuration that we will have to take within a year or two.”
Kuala Lumpur joins neighboring cities Bangkok and Singapore in looking to expand airport capacity as routes in Asia Pacific are set to become among the world’s busiest, according to the International Air Transport Association. Malaysia’s tourism board is targeting foreign visitor arrivals of 36 million by 2020, a 39 percent increase from last year.
Read also: KLIA’s immigration service voted world's best
Malaysia Airports sees passenger traffic across the airports it manages rising 6.3 percent this year as it banks on easier visa approvals for visitors from China and India.
Top ten
The company is also looking to Hajj pilgrimages for more traffic and is cooperating with Malaysia Airlines, which provides chartered flights for the annual gathering, Raja Azmi said.
Improving services is a focus for the company, whose ranking in the Airport Service Quality survey fell to 12th in 2017, from ninth the previous year, he said. In 2018, Malaysia Airports is seeking to be back among the top 10.
As part of its five-year plan to diversify earnings, the company set up an international unit that will focus on managing or buying stakes in airfields in the Middle East and Asia. It currently operates airports in Turkey and Qatar.
