Kuala Lumpur International Airport Progressing Towards Hub Status

February 17, 2004

KLIA Progressing Towards Hub Status
The Star, Malaysia
 

PLANS to make KL International Airport (KLIA) a
regional hub were on the cards long before the first
flight took off from the state-of-the-art airport more
than five years ago.  

About two years ago, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
(MAHB) officials said that KLIA could call itself a
hub if the number of passengers it handles reached 18
million, but that may not be the case now.  

KLIA is still far from the finish line although a lot
of efforts have been put in by the airport operator,
MAHB, and related parties to make this dream a
reality.  

Competition from Singapore's Changi Airport and
Bangkok's International Airport is also giving MAHB a
run for its money. KLIA has also been receiving a lot
of flak for its frequent operational hiccups. 

  
An aerial view of KL International Airport 
The last five years have been very trying for the
aviation industry. In the late 1990s, Asia was hit by
the Asian financial crisis. Then the Sept 11 attacks
threw the entire industry into turmoil. Last year, the
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak and
the Iraq war slowed growth in the sector and now,
concerns over the spread of the bird flu are growing. 

As MAHB managing director Datuk Bashir Ahmad puts it:
“Whatever happens to the aviation industry has an
impact on airports, airlines and the government (in
terms of air transportation). An airport cannot be
seen in isolation.’’  

Despite all that, KLIA managed 17.5 million passengers
last year compared with 14.9 million in 2001. Last
year alone, there was a 13% increase in the number of
foreign carrier frequencies. Currently, about 45
airlines are using KLIA. 

But the numbers are still far short of what Changi
Airport and Bangkok International Airport handle.
Changi handled 24.7 million passengers last year
although this was a 14.9% drop, while Bangkok did 25
million. Changi is linked to 150 cities in 51
countries by 68 scheduled airlines while Bangkok
serves more than 80 airlines.  

KLIA is not yet in the 20 million passenger league but
not many can say what is the magical number to qualify
as a hub. Some say it is 20 million while others say
22 million.  

But certainly, KLIA is a strong candidate for hub
status. To become a hub, there should be connectivity,
throughput and a strong home base carrier.  

To become a hub, an airport must have a good spread of
airlines, and point-to-point and transfer traffic. It
also needs a critical mass of passengers and depth of
operations in terms of frequencies. 

A good hub should have 5 to 6 banks or waves of flight
departures and arrivals in a 24-hour period.
Presently, KLIA is said to be doing about 2 to 3,
which means that there are still periods of lull when
no flights take off or land. Changi does between 3 and
5 and Amsterdam, 5 and 6.  

However, a looming threat is the emergence of ultra
long haul aircraft that fly non-stop for 18 hours,
possibly bypassing KLIA.  

Bashir admitted that the risk was there and this was
already happening. But it is not alarming. KLIA would
not be hurt as much as Changi, which relies on
transfer traffic as the former has its own home-based
traffic. The bulk of the 24.7 million passengers
Changi handled last year was transit traffic.  

Since Bashir took over the helm of MAHB some seven
months ago, he has instituted some changes. The
message he has sent out is loud and clear - meet the
passenger's needs and assist airlines.  

Operational issues are being thrashed out at weekly
meetings, which are being held to create greater
harmony between all parties at the airport.  

Citing the case of India, Bashir said every airline in
the world wanted to go to India because it offered a
huge pocket of transit passengers. 

“What we need is a strong traffic base for airlines to
come here. Airlines would not choose an airport
because it is nice but whether they (the airlines) can
make money from passengers,’’ he said.  

Getting Lufthansa back to KLIA was a major coup for
MAHB. It is now trying hard to win back Qantas and
British Airways, which pulled out during the economic
crisis. MAHB is also wooing other airlines and at the
same time providing its best services to existing
airlines that have remained loyal to KLIA.  

Passenger numbers aside, it might take a lot more work
to make KLIA a hub. At the very least, the journey has
begun and it is a matter of time since traffic numbers
reach the 19 million mark as the year comes to an end.
 

But it would certainly help MAHB’s efforts if Tourism
Malaysia were more aggressive in selling Malaysia as a
destination. This is because by selling Malaysia, it
is also promoting KLIA. 


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