No more body search at KLIA by second half next year — minister

SEPANG: By second half of next year, flight passengers can breathe a sigh of relief as there will be no more physical body search at the Kuala Lumpur International Aiport (KLIA) and probably at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) too.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said this would be made possible with the use of the new and upgraded x-ray scanners for passengers, which will be put in place by the Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB).

“So, there will be no touching. By second half of next year, airport security officers will no longer have to conduct physical body search on flight passengers,” he told reporters after officiating the ground-breaking ceremony for klia2 dedicated processing centre at the airport here yesterday.

Loke said many people were not comfortable having to undergo body search at the airport, but such a procedure was part of the security protocols.

“Even as a minister, when I pass through any gate here (at the airport), I have to be body-searched as well. But there will be new machines and new facilities to upgrade the airport service,” he further said.

On the klia2 dedicated processing centre, Loke said crews of all airlines operating at klia2 would need only 10 minutes to reach the boarding gates when they can bypass the terminal building after the centre for departing airline crew is completed by mid 2019.

The RM2.7 million centre, which will be built by MAHB, will have three immigration counters and one customs counter and will be manned by additional resources by the relevant agencies, as well as aviation security officers from MAHB.

Meanwhile, MAHB in a statement distributed during the ceremony said, as at August this year, KLIA had registered 40 million passengers for both terminals with klia2 registering 21.3 million passengers, which is a 7.8 percent increase from the same period last year. - Bernama