Malaysia Subang Airport’s revamp plan to be finalised by end-June

[KUALA LUMPUR] The redevelopment plan for Malaysia’s Subang International Airport will not be ready in April as initially expected due to various technical issues, said the country’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke on Monday (Mar 20). He said the plan will instead be finalised by the end of June.

Loke had announced in February that Subang – which was Kuala Lumpur’s main international airport from 1965 to 1998 – will undergo a major upgrade to become a premium regional city airport. The airport operator, Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB), was given two months to present a regeneration plan. 

Speaking at an event at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on Monday, Loke told reporters that the process had become more complicated than expected.

There are many technical issues that are yet to be resolved, and the plan will also need to be presented to parliament before the upgrading works can begin, he added.

One issue that needs more time to sort out is the collaboration between MAHB and WCT Holdings, the operator of Subang Skypark terminal which also owns a 60 per cent stake in Subang Skypark. 

Loke also expressed his disappointment with KLIA’s ranking of 67th in the latest World Airport Survey, which was released last week. KLIA slipped five places from its 62nd position last year. Singapore’s Changi Airport regained the top spot this year.

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“KLIA was once one of the greatest airports when it started operation 25 years ago. We were 14th 10 years ago (in this survey), but we didn’t make it to the top 10 after 10 years,” he said.

KLIA’s maintenance and conditions have deteriorated in recent years, said Loke, noting that the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns were among the factors that caused the lack of facilities maintenance.

The KLIA Aerotrain service, which ferries travellers from the main terminal to the satellite building, has reached the end of its lifespan and was suspended in March.

The replacement programme for the Aerotrain will take three years, and is scheduled to be completed by March 2025. In the interim, MAHB has deployed buses to ferry travellers round the clock.

MAHB managing director Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said that KLIA has increased the number of buses from 18 to 30, which is sufficient to handle large numbers of passengers at any one time.

Despite these problems, Loke still has confidence in KLIA in becoming among the top 10 airports in the future. He said there is an urgent need for the private and public sectors to work together in fixing the problems to “make KLIA great again”.

At the event held at KLIA, Hong Kong-based Plaza Premium Group opened two new lounges at the airport to cater to the increasing demand for pre-flight lounge services now that international travel has picked up after the pandemic. 

Plaza Premium Lounge Management chief executive Song Hoi See said the company is also looking at expanding its services to other airports in Malaysia, including Kota Kinabalu in Sabah and Miri in Sarawak.