Tuesday, January 25, 2011

All low cost carriers will have to move to the new permanent low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT), KLIA2, which is scheduled for completion in October 2012, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha said.

Asked on whether the low cost carrier operators were reluctant to move, he said: "I think they have to move as the current LCCT would be converted into a cargo terminal."

Work on the terminal is progressing and it is expected to be completed by next year, he said.

The current LCCT is capable of handling up to 15 million passengers per annum, and last year it handled about 17 million passengers, the minister told reporters during a ceremony here today to mark the handing over the Flight Inspection System (FIS) by Systematic Aviation Services Sdn Bhd to his ministry.

Considering the exponential traffic growth in the low cost sector, the government has prioritised the immediate development of a mega low cost terminal worth RM2 billion that would meet the low cost travel needs for at least the next 10 to 15 years.

In the last 10 years low cost travel at KLIA has grown at an average of 37 per cent per anum.

The new LCCT, spread over 150,000 sq metres and will feature retail and food outlets to ensure passenger comfort.

Meanwhile on the FIS, Kong said the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) had invested more than RM20 million to purchase the FIS to enhance the safety levels of civil flights.

FIS is a mobile system fixed in an aircraft to monitor the safety of aircraft traffic within the 22 air terminals in the country.

A total of 820,000 aircraft movements was recorded by DCA’s traffic control towers nationwide in 2010, and from this KLIA had monitored 245,802 movements or an equivalent of 710 aircrafts a day, Kong said.

There was also a rise in the number of aircrafts that had used the Malaysian airports last year, going up to 577,985 compared with 535,793 aircrafts in 2009 or an increase by 7.9 per cent.

Last year, a total of 12 airline accidents in the country were also investigated by the DCA, involving the aircrafts of commercial airlines, government agency and flight schools.- Bernama

This article is a verbatim copy of the original article from Daily Express.