A whole new level for airport lounges

You’ve passed by doors along airport hallways marked “Golden Lounges” or “Sky Clubs”. If you didn’t already know, these are special lounges for first and business class travellers.

An oasis of sorts, airport lounges provide comfort for frequent jetsetters killing time before their flights.

It used to be that only fi rst and business class ticket holders were given the special treatment to rest, relax and rejuvenate at these designated spaces.

Some lounges even specifically cater to certain airline carriers.

The average economy class had no choice but to hang around restaurants, eateries or airport couches that – let’s face it – aren’t necessarily available nor comfortable.

But what was the average traveller to do? Not every one can afford exhorbitant ticket prices that grant access to these perks. An influx of low-budget travellers – largely sparked by the rise of low cost carriers

opening frequent routes worldwide – gave way to a new industry: pay-per-use lounges.

These are fi rst class lounges open to all travellers regardless of airline flown, for a relatively small fee.

Most lounges carry the basic necessities: buffet and beverage offerings, comfortable seats, a special WiFi for its customers, and plenty of charging docks.

Certain places carry additional offerings such as hotel rooms, spa services, massages and so on.

Malaysian airports achieve best passenger traffic growth

It comes as no surprise that pay-per-use lounges are of growing interest as a viable business, with latest statistics showing passenger traffic in Malaysian airports reaching its peak. Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s ( MAHB) airports in the country recorded in September its fi rst doubledigit growth in monthly passenger traffic for 2016 via a 12.3 per cent growth compared with September 2015.

In a Bursa fi ling on October 10, MAHB said it registered 7.48 million passengers in September 2016.

“Almost all MAHB’s airports recorded positive growth with 10 airports registering double- digit growth in the range of 11 to 25 per cent.

“All the five international airports (in Malaysia) registered high growth rates ranging from 10 to to 46 per cent,” it said.

Kota Kinabalu International Airport registered the highest growth for international traffic over September 2015 at 46 per cent. In addition, the airport’s domestic traffic grew by 11 per cent.

MAHB noted that all the local airlines experienced double- digit growth for international traffic.

“Malindo Air grew by 50 per cent, while AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines Bhd registered a 10 per cent growth respectively. This is the fi rst positive growth for Malaysia Airlines Bhd for 2016,” it said.

MAHB is likely to achieve its best performance in the fourth quarter, and this is expected to result in “an optimistic growth” for the whole of 2016, it said.

For the January- October period, MAHB said there were 72.53 million passengers passing through Malaysian airports – a growth of 5.4 per cent from 68.8 million a year ago.

International passenger numbers grew 12.9 per cent to 3.57 million in October from 3.16 million a year ago, while domestic passenger movements rose 14.9 per cent to 3.75 million from 3.26 million previously.

In terms of overall aircraft movements at the 39 airports in the country, MAHB recorded a 4.5 per cent increase to 69,324 in October from 66,325 a year ago.

Additionally, the International Air Transport Association predicted travel to and from Asia-Pacific will account for nearly half of all air travel by 2034. This amounts to some 2.9 billion annual trips.

Almost all MAHB’s airports recorded positive growth with 10 airports registering double-digit growth in the range of 11 to 25 per cent. MAHB

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