THIRD KLIA TO BE BUILT TO HANDLE INCREASE IN PASSENGERS

KLIA main terminal, klia2 nearing capacity as passenger traffic grows, says MAHB

MALAYSIA plans to build a third airport at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in five years as the KLIA main terminal and Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) are nearing their capacity.

KLIA and klia2, with a combined capacity of 75 million passengers, handled 59 million passengers last year, said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali.

“The government is considering developing KLIA3 at the borders of Runway 3 and 4 but prior to that, we have committed to some investments involving baggage handling systems, which could increase total passenger capacity by about five million.

“We have earmarked 60 per cent of KLIA land for expansion,” he said after the groundbreaking of Axis REIT Managers Bhd-Senior Aerospace Upeca’s facility at the Subang Aerotech Park, here, yesterday.

Badlisham said the fourth runway was under MAHB’s master plan for KLIA. The airport is currently operating on three runways.

MAHB has seen growing passenger traffic at KLIA, klia2 and the more than 30 other airports it manages nationwide.

On Monday, MAHB reported passenger traffic movement growth of 4.7 per cent to 7.69 million last month at 39 airports.

With the inclusion of its Istanbul operations in Turkey, the group handled 10.07 million passengers last month, compared with 9.4 million in February last year.

KLIA recorded 58.5 million passengers last year, up 11.2 per cent from 2016. KLIA’s main terminal handled 10.7 per cent more passengers at 28.2 million compared with 2016, while klia2 handled 30.3 million passengers, a growth of 11.6 per cent over 2016.

MIDF Research aviation analyst Muhammad Danial Abdul Razak said the demand for air travel would remain positive. This would be underpinned by stable job markets in major economies such as China, the United States and Europe.

“Looking further into the consumer confidence index, China has breached 120 points, a level not seen in 24 years,” he said.

Danial is bullish about MAHB, saying that among the upswing factors would be its capacity expansion and entry of foreign airlines, catering to long-term structural demand of air travel.

“(MAHB’s) catalysts for growth would include the aggressive expansionary strategy by the likes of low-cost carriers. We see upbeat demand for air travel due to improving economic fundamentals, along with better consumer spending power.

“This favourable atmosphere augurs well for the industry as Chinese tourists represent a notable percentage of international passengers at airports managed by MAHB,” he added.