SEPANG – Malaysia Airports’ significant contribution to the growth of both the tourism and aviation industries was further heightened when Langkawi International Airport (IATA Code: LGK) received the Highly Commended recognition in the ‘Under 4 million passengers’ category at the prestigious Routes Asia 2019 Marketing Awards that was recently held in Cebu, Philippines. The awards are widely regarded as the most valuable awards recognising outstanding marketing programmes that have supported the launch of new air routes or the development of existing services in the route development and aviation industry.
Malaysia Airports’ group chief executive officer Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin commended on the award and said that LGK has been actively attracting new airlines and boosting inbound tourism to the island over the years. In 2018, LGK achieved a 29.9% growth in international passenger movements with a total number of 368,995 passengers as compared to 2017 that recorded only 283,953 passengers. “The award by Routes Asia is indeed a further testimony of Malaysia Airports and the government’s efforts to reinforce LGK’s marketability and presence on the tourism map, as well as act as a larger catalyst to its economic development,” said Raja Azmi.
“The award is also timely for Langkawi International Airport as it recently completed its expansion in September last year, which had increased the airport capacity from 1.5 million passengers per annum (mppa) to 4.0 mppa. We will continue to expand the overall connectivity at LGK by seeking for new airline routes and increased flight frequencies from key destinations in Europe, Central Asia and China,” Raja Azmi further added.
LGK completed its expansion last year that resulted in an increase of the total gross floor area (GFA) at the terminal building from 15,000 sqm to 23,000 sqm, providing a comfort level of 22 sqm per passenger. As part of the expansion project, many facilities in the terminal such as the carpark facilities, check-in counters, baggage system and washrooms were also upgraded to reduce congestion and improve operational efficiencies. The expansion is in line with Malaysia Airports aim to enhance the guest experience for airport users at LGK and support the island’s growth as a popular tourist destination.
In 2018, LGK received two new foreign airlines namely TUI Airways and Sunday Airlines, which brought the total number of airlines to 10 and total number of destinations to 17 last year. New destinations that were introduced last year included Manchester, Almaty, Guiyang, Chengdu and Hangzhou.
Malaysia Airports has also been enlisting innovative marketing strategies such as the Joint International Tourism Development Programme (JITDP) with Tourism Malaysia to assist local and foreign airlines in promoting the country overseas through tactical promotional campaigns. LGK also worked with the Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) to enhance the integrated marketing efforts in boosting the number for international passenger arrivals. On top of that, we are continuously supporting the airlines with incentives such as the Langkawi Incentive Programme and Airline Incentive Programme 3.