KUALA LUMPUR (June 12): The plan to upgrade the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is currently expected to start in 2026 when the terminal’s capacity reaches 90%, the Ministry of Transport said.

It said Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) had appointed a consultant in 2019 to develop a master plan study for a period of 30 years until 2050 for KLIA.

The ministry said the study included development requirements involving two phases of development to accommodate the increase in passengers of up to 140 million passengers per anum (mppa) and cargo needs of up to 2.5 million tonnes per year.

It said KLIA Terminal 1 had been designed to accommodate up to 30 mppa and KLIA Terminal 2 as much as 45 million mppa.

“Based on passenger movement projections by MAHB, the capacity at Terminal 1 will be reached in 2030 while Terminal 2 will be reached beyond 2030,” it told the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (June 12).

The ministry was responding to a question from Gobind Singh Deo (PH-Damansara) on whether there was any proposal to upgrade buildings and facilities at the KLIA domestic and international terminals and the time period required for that purpose.

It said in 2019, Terminal 1 recorded 29.2 mppa while Terminal 2 recorded 33 mppa.

However, it said passenger movement at KLIA was affected due to the Covid-19 epidemic that hit the world in 2020 and experienced a drastic decrease of up to 90% (2.1 mppa) in 2021 at Terminal 1 and 96% at Terminal 2 (1.8 mppa)

Currently, the ministry said MAHB is upgrading the Track Transit System (TTS) and Baggage Handling System (BHS), which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, to upgrade domestic and international passenger handling facilities at KLIA.

On the status of the National Airport Strategic Plan (NASP) study, the ministry said the study is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

It said the study, among others, aimed to determine the direction of the development of airports in Malaysia in terms of physical infrastructure development, airspace requirements and economic and strategic studies so that airport development is carried out based on real needs according to authentic and accurate data.

“This study will also examine several new airport construction proposals including Kulim Airport (KXP) to determine the feasibility and sustainability of a project holistically.

“KXP Airportcity Holdings Sdn Bhd, as a company appointed by the Kedah state government, has submitted the results of the KXP feasibility study for the ministry’s research, which covers two reports, namely the Technical and Commercial Reports,” it added.

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