New Dedicated Processing Centre at klia2 Enables Departing AirAsia Crew to Reach the Boarding Gates in 10 Minutes
SEPANG– Malaysia Airports continues to facilitate national aviation industry growth by building a dedicated processing centre for departing airline crew at klia2 that aims to optimise the operational processes for airlines. The dedicated processing centre that is expected to be completed by mid-2019 will comprise a newly constructed building for dedicated customs and immigration clearance and a covered walkway to the gates.
The new centre provides more convenience to departing airline crews as they can now choose to bypass the terminal thus shortening their journey. The journey which used to take between 15 minutes to half an hour can now be reduced to about 10 minutes. This is about 40% in time savings resulting in about 21 hours saved per day for the airlines. The centre will be equipped with three immigration counters and one customs counter and manned by additional resources by the relevant agencies as well as aviation security officers from Malaysia Airports.
According to Malaysia Airports acting Group CEO Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin, “This is part of our efforts to provide more joyful experiences to our customers who are not only passengers but also airlines and retail partners. On top of which, this initiative will also improve airline turnaround time and on-time performance thus enabling the airlines to increase their flight frequencies. All these will have the potential to facilitate the further growth of airlines operating at our airports and contribute to the growth of our national aviation industry.”
The ground-breaking ceremony was officiated by Minister of Transport Malaysia Yang Berhormat Loke Siew Fook who commented that air transport is one of the main drivers of global trade and e-commerce that help to generate economic growth for the country through direct and indirect benefits.
Loke said, “The construction of this new dedicated processing centre for departing airline crew by Malaysia Airports is one such example in improving operational efficiencies where direct benefits can be derived both from the airport and airline perspective.”
Azmi had also shared several other improvements that were done at KLIA to create a better experience for the airport community and in improving operational efficiencies for the airlines. One was the ongoing refurbishment of staff washroom facilities which are used by staff of the airlines and ground handlers. A total of 83 washrooms is currently being refurbished. The other improvement was the installation of self-baggage drop (SBD) facilities at 13 check-in counters in March this year. The SBD facility has increased processing speed at the check-in counters by two and a half times more compared to conventional check in counters allowing for airlines to process more passengers in less time. Following the success of this implementation, Malaysia Airports will be looking to install an additional 15 units by the end of this year.
As at August 2018, KL International Airport had registered 40.0 million passengers for both terminals with klia2 registering 21.3 million – a 7.8% increase from the same period last year. Also present at the event this morning were Director of Royal Customs of KLIA, Wahabi Abdullah; Director of Immigration Department KLIA, Mohd Nasri Ishak; Chief Executive Officer of Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia, Ahmad Nizar Zolfakar; AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer & AirAsia X Co-Group Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Tony Fernandes; and Chief Financial Officer of Pos Aviation Sdn Bhd, Adil Affandy Othman.