Kuala Lumpur International Airport (IATA: KUL, ICAO: WMKK) is located in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. KLIA is the main airport in Malaysia. Apart from being a major airport hub in Malaysia, it also serves the Malaysian central peninsular region. It is mainly connected by road via KLIA Expressway and rail via KLIA Ekspres as well as KLIA Transit. According to its master plan, it has the capability to handle up to 125 million passengers. However, the master plan has already been revised several times to accommodate the growth of low-cost travel. As a result of tremendous growth in low-cost travel, another airport terminal has been built, which is klia2. Apart from a new terminal, the government has also decided to build a third runway to accommodate increased passenger volume.

Subang Airport replacement

It has been designated to replace Subang Airport as the main gateway to Malaysia. The airport code (KUL) are also taken from Subang Airport (now Subang Airport uses SZB as its IATA code).

Funding

The cost of KLIA construction is huge and the project was deemed to be an ambitious one during that time. The Malaysian Government has set up a company named Kuala Lumpur International Airport Berhad (KLIAB). Japanese government through JICA, its Incorporated Administrative Agency has given an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan to KLIAB. The ODA loan covers 75% of some costs of the airport development, namely 1) Construction of the airport main terminal complex, 2) contact pier and 3) consultant services (designing and construction supervision).

Initial construction stage

Numerous criticism has been received, including its location, which is almost 50 km from KL City Centre. However, the problem was solved by installing a 57 km high-speed rail network (KLIA Ekspres) to connect the airport and city centre.

KLIA Original Master Plan

• 5 runways will be constructed
• 2 satellite terminals
• 3 main terminals
• 1 30 mppa budget terminal
• 125 million passenger per annum (mppa) capacity

LCCT (Former Site)

Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), KLIA is a budget terminal located in KLIA tailored for low-cost carriers in Malaysia,  such as AirAsia. As the aviation industry in Malaysia grows up rapidly, AirAsia also feels the rapid spurt of growth, thanks to its ‘Now everyone can fly’ campaign.

LCCT @ Labu, Negeri Sembilan (cancelled)

Early 2009, AirAsia and Sime Darby has agreed to build a new LCCT terminal in Labu, Negeri Sembilan. Both companies will agree to pay in full the costs involved. The new airport is estimated to cost about RM 1.6 billion. It is just a mere 8 km from KLIA. The government initially gave a green light with this plan, but it was held back a few weeks later following on complaints made by numerous parties, including our former Prime Minister and MAHB. MAHB instead told that the new LCCT is already in KLIA’s masterplan, and waiting to be constructed.

However, Malaysian government vetoed the decision and call to scrap the plan, justifying that the new LCCT at KLIA will be completed in 2011, which is in three years time, in line with NAMP (National Airport Master Plan).

The New LCCT at KLIA (klia2)

The new mini-budget has included a new LCCT under its proposed expenditure, which is a RM 2 bil LCCT located in KLIA’s area.

Key Features of klia2

• Estimated cost: RM 2 billion
• Completion Date: Third Quarter 2011
• Size: 150 000 sq m
• Capacity: 30 mppa, with capability of expansion up to 45 mppa
• Comfort level: 15 – 20 sq m per passenger
• Multi-story car park – 6000 parking bays
• Landside connection to KLIA main terminal building
• Aircraft parking apron with 70 bays
• New 4 km 3rd runway (after 2 existing one at KLIA)
• Full parallel taxiways for runway 2 and runway 3 for quick turnaround
• Integrated transport hub for buses and taxis
• Efficient layout of concession areas for retail and food and beverage outlets
• Transfer areas to facilitate ease of connections

Additional Links

MYJadual – train schedule

Sources

1. KLIA – Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (Official Website) – link
2. KLIA on Wikipedia – link

This page was updated on [last-modified].