Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) 2, the new low-cost carrier terminal, will open in May next year, its operator has confirmed.
Reported by Malaysia’s Bernama news agency, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) Chief Financial Officer Faizal Mansor said the new budget terminal will initially host approximately 10 airlines, but this is expected to rise significantly as the Asian low-cost aviation market expands further.
“Once the airport is operational in May 2013, MAHB will have almost 10 low-cost carriers flying from there. Among them are Zest Airways, Lion Air, Tiger Airways, Cebu Pacific Air and definitely, AirAsia,” Faizal told Bernama in an interview. “We would love to welcome more airlines to KLIA 2. Five years ago, there were only five low-cost carriers but now there are about 30 to 40 budget carriers,” he added.
Commenting on the arrival of Lion Air’s new Malaysian LCC, Malindo Airways, Faizal added that MAHB welcome its arrivals, but had yet to enter discussions over the airline’s operations at KLIA 2. “We have not gone to the details yet,” he said.
The 257,000m2 KLIA 2, which is being developed at a cost of approximately MYR3.6 billion (US$1.2bn), will have 60 gates, 80 aerobridges and 225 retail outlets, Initially it will be able to handle 30m passengers per year, with the provision to expand to 45m in future. It will be located adjacent to the existing KLIA, approximately 50km from Kuala Lumpur.
