Since its opening in May 2014, there has been no occasion where flight operations were disrupted due to rectification works performed at klia2.
Being a terminal built for 45 million passenger per annum (mppa), klia2 has a total of 68 parking bays with eight remote bays bringing the total to 76 bays. The terminal currently handles 25 million passengers. On a daily average, total airline requirements for bay utilisation during the day are between 30 and 35 bays. During the night, the numbers increase to between 55 and 60 bays for night-stop parking. Despite the closure of some bays for scheduled rectification works, there are always at least 60 bays available during the day and 66 bays available during the night. Hence there has been no situation where airline operations were disrupted by bay closures.
On top of that, the Joint Inspection Committee, formed in December 2014 comprising representatives from Malaysia Airports; the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA); AirAsia; AirAsia X; and Malindo Air, jointly discuss and agree on the rectification schedule and subsequently inspect the completed works to ensure that it complies with the standards set by the authority. This was affirmed by DCA in their statement on 9 August 2015. In other words, all airlines have advance notice on which bays will be closed.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), which includes klia2, is the only airport in Southeast Asia that operates a three independent runway system – Runway 1 (RWY 1), Runway 2 (RWY 2) and Runway 3 (RWY 3) – with two air traffic control towers. One great advantage of this is that the runways can serve as a backup to each other in the event that a runway is closed for scheduled maintenance thereby ensuring continuous airport operations.
As is the norm in many large airports, runways are closed periodically during off peak hours for scheduled inspection and maintenance work. In the case of KLIA and klia2, this is done from midnight to 6.00 am on a weekly basis. On average, RWY 1 and RWY 2 are closed for scheduled maintenance for one night per week whereas RWY 3 is closed for two nights per week. The frequency is increased for RWY 3 for additional precautionary inspection to ensure the highest safety level for airport operations.
With regards to the claims made by AirAsia on frequent bay changes affecting their flight operations, recorded data from the flight operations centre over the last few months show that 85% of bay changes is the result of requests made by airlines for a number of reasons such as late arrivals and departure, aircraft swapping and the airline’s ground handlers towing the airplane to the wrong bay.
Total passenger traffic for klia2, a terminal dedicated for low-cost carriers, have grown as much as 7% since opening. The 45-million passenger per annum (mppa) terminal, mainly used by the AirAsia group of airlines, has a current average of nearly 500 flight movements daily, a 20% increase from the daily flight average in April 2014 - the last month of operations in LCCT.
This is due to many factors such as the availability of Runway 3 (RWY 3) which is dedicated to klia2 flight operations. A three-runway systems allows for hourly flight movements to increase from 68 per hour (for two-runway system) to 78 per hour. On top of this, RWY 3 enables low-cost carriers to experience less holding time before being cleared for landing because only 10 airlines use RWY 3 at klia2 as opposed to more than 60 full-service airlines using RWY 1 and RWY 2 at KLIA. This results in fuel saving for the low cost airlines.
The usage of Passenger Boarding Bridges (PBB) has also contributed to more efficient operations because passenger boarding and disembarkation can now continue without disruption despite inclement weather thus minimising flight delays. On top of which, the PBB allows for better facilitation with regards to passengers with restricted mobility, families with young children and the elderly.
As a responsible airport operator, Malaysia Airports remains committed to ensuring safety and efficiency at klia2.