Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is one of Asia’s major aviation hubs and is a destination in itself, located approximately 50km from the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. The Main Terminal Building area was designed using the concept of ‘Airport in the forest, forest in the airport’, in which it is surrounded by green space. Kuala Lumpur International Airport is capable of handling 35 million passengers and 1.2 million tones of cargo a year in its current phase. It was ranked as the 18th busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic, and is the 7th busiest international airport in Asia. The increase in cargo volume made Kuala Lumpur International Airport the 28th busiest airport by cargo traffic in 2009. The airport is operated by Malaysia Airports Sepang Sdn Bhd and is the airline hub or home base for Malaysia Airlines, MASkargo, AirAsia, and AirAsia X. Kuala Lumpur International Airport has become one of the key economic strengths for the nation, where it is well connected via expressways to all parts of Peninsular Malaysia, highly industrialized areas like Shah Alam, and the information and communications technology hub, the Multimedia Super Corridor. It is one of the important components in the economy of Malaysia, as the airport is the main import-export center for the country. Kuala Lumpur International Airport is one of the five airports to be ranked as a 4-star airport by the independent research consultancy firm Skytrax along with Zurich, Frankfurt am Main, Beijing-Capital and Amsterdam-Schiphol. The IATA airport code, KUL was inherited from the previous international gateway for Malaysia, Subang International Airport, which currently handles only turboprop aircraft, general aviation and houses a military air base.

History

The planning of KLIA began in 1990 when the government decided that the existing Subang International Airport. With the airport site spanning 100km2, it is one of the largest airport sites in the world. It is built on a piece of agricultural land and required no demolition of private property. The master plan of Kuala Lumpur International Airport involves constructing five runways, and two terminals accompanied by two satellite terminals for each terminal over three phases. Phase One development includes constructing one main terminal accompanied by one satellite terminal that is enough to accommodate 25 million passengers and dual full service runways. Under the implementation of Phase One, sixty contact piers, twenty remote parking bays with eighty aircraft parking positions, four maintenance hangars and fire stations will be built. Implementation of phase two and three will be expansions of the airport to include increasing number of passengers. Ultimately, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers per annum once all three phases are implemented. With the workforce of 25,000 workers working 24 hours a day, the airport was built within four and half years. The airport was officially inaugurated on 27 June 1998. KLIA features a number of modern design features that assist in efficient operation of the airport. It is one of the first Asia Pacific airports to become 100% BCBP – Bar Coded Boarding Pass – capable.

Terminals

The Passenger Terminal Complex (PTC) was built with an emphasis on allowing natural light into the building. Thus, there is a huge expanse of glass throughout the building, and the spectacular roof has cut-outs for natural light to filter in. The PTC comprises three buildings – the Main Terminal Building, the Satellite Building and the Contact Pier. Besides the 80-room hotel at the Satellite Building, there is a 450-room 5-star Pan Pacific KLIA hotel a 10 minute (indoor) walk away. Shopping spots are available in an area encompassing 85,000m2. Currently, the retail space at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport stands at 63,644m2 (685,060 sq ft). The airport operator plans to increase the retail space to 103,251m2 (1,111,380 sq ft), an 62.2% increase in retail space. Malaysia Airports’s retail arm Eraman will boost retail shops to 277 from 242 and add more food and beverage outlets to 99 from 88 presently. As there are international flights operating out from the airport, therefore terminals of the airport are equipped with immigration processing facilities and security scanning for all passengers including domestic passengers. The Satellite terminal handles most of the international flights, while the main terminal building’s contact pier handles domestic traffic, regional international flights and international flights routed to other hubs within Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines operate from both terminals, where main terminal building’s contact pier is their preferred terminal for domestic flights. Conversely, low cost carries such as AirAsia Group of Airlines, Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific operates domestic and international flights out of the low cost carrier terminal.

Inter-terminal transportation

Terminals of Kuala Lumpur International Airport are well connected with the KLIA Automated People Mover (Aerotrain), a three-car driverless train that runs on elevated rail and under the taxiways and also the bus system.

Main Terminal Building – LCCT

The LCCT is connected with the Main Terminal Building with a NadiKLIA bus for RM1.50. The Malaysian government announced in November 2006 that it had approved in principle the construction of a rail link between the Main Terminal Building and LCCT. However, the construction is pending until the new LCCT hub complex is fully constructed by 2010.

Main Terminal Building – Satellite Terminal A

The Main Terminal Building and Satellite Building are connected by Aerotrain at three to five minute intervals. The journey between terminals takes under two minutes, and each 250-person capacity train is able to transport 3,000 passengers per hour per direction with the maximum speed being 56 km/h (35mph). This is a complimentary service for all passengers traveling to/from Satellite Terminal KLIA can be reached by the KLIA Express and the KLIA Transit train services. KLIA Express provides a non-stop express train service to the KL City Air Terminal – the non-stop trip between Kuala Lumpur and KLIA is 57km kilometers and takes 28 minutes. KLIA maintained its place in the worlds top -10 airports with a 9th place finish, and a win in the Best Immigration Service category. Another repeat win from the 2010, KLIA continues to maintain a high level of staff service for the immigration formalities.
 

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is one of Asia’s major aviation hubs and is a destination in itself, located approximately 50km from the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. The Main Terminal Building area was designed using the concept of ‘Airport in the forest, forest in the airport’, in which it is surrounded by green space.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport is capable of handling 35 million passengers and 1.2 million tones of cargo a year in its current phase. It was ranked as the 18th busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic, and is the 7th busiest international airport in Asia. The increase in cargo volume made Kuala Lumpur International Airport the 28th busiest airport by cargo traffic in 2009.

The airport is operated by Malaysia Airports Sepang Sdn Bhd and is the airline hub or home base for Malaysia Airlines, MASkargo, AirAsia, and AirAsia X.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport has become one of the key economic strengths for the nation, where it is well connected via expressways to all parts of Peninsular Malaysia, highly industrialized areas like Shah Alam, and the information and communications technology hub, the Multimedia Super Corridor. It is one of the important components in the economy of Malaysia, as the airport is the main import-export center for the country. Kuala Lumpur International Airport is one of the five airports to be ranked as a 4-star airport by the independent research consultancy firm Skytrax along with Zurich, Frankfurt am Main, Beijing-Capital and Amsterdam-Schiphol.

The IATA airport code, KUL was inherited from the previous international gateway for Malaysia, Subang International Airport, which currently handles only turboprop aircraft, general aviation and houses a military air base.

History

The planning of KLIA began in 1990 when the government decided that the existing Subang International Airport. With the airport site spanning 100km2, it is one of the largest airport sites in the world. It is built on a piece of agricultural land and required no demolition of private property. The master plan of Kuala Lumpur International Airport involves constructing five runways, and two terminals accompanied by two satellite terminals for each terminal over three phases.

Phase One development includes constructing one main terminal accompanied by one satellite terminal that is enough to accommodate 25 million passengers and dual full service runways. Under the implementation of Phase One, sixty contact piers, twenty remote parking bays with eighty aircraft parking positions, four maintenance hangars and fire stations will be built. Implementation of phase two and three will be expansions of the airport to include increasing number of passengers. Ultimately, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers per annum once all three phases are implemented. With the workforce of 25,000 workers working 24 hours a day, the airport was built within four and half years. The airport was officially inaugurated on 27 June 1998.

KLIA features a number of modern design features that assist in efficient operation of the airport. It is one of the first Asia Pacific airports to become 100% BCBP – Bar Coded Boarding Pass – capable.

Terminals

The Passenger Terminal Complex (PTC) was built with an emphasis on allowing natural light into the building. Thus, there is a huge expanse of glass throughout the building, and the spectacular roof has cut-outs for natural light to filter in. The PTC comprises three buildings – the Main Terminal Building, the Satellite Building and the Contact Pier. Besides the 80-room hotel at the Satellite Building, there is a 450-room 5-star Pan Pacific KLIA hotel a 10 minute (indoor) walk away. Shopping spots are available in an area encompassing 85,000m2. Currently, the retail space at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport stands at 63,644m2 (685,060 sq ft). The airport operator plans to increase the retail space to 103,251m2 (1,111,380 sq ft), an 62.2% increase in retail space. Malaysia Airports’s retail arm Eraman will boost retail shops to 277 from 242 and add more food and beverage outlets to 99 from 88 presently.

As there are international flights operating out from the airport, therefore terminals of the airport are equipped with immigration processing facilities and security scanning for all passengers including domestic passengers. The Satellite terminal handles most of the international flights, while the main terminal building’s contact pier handles domestic traffic, regional international flights and international flights routed to other hubs within Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines operate from both terminals, where main terminal building’s contact pier is their preferred terminal for domestic flights. Conversely, low cost carries such as AirAsia Group of Airlines, Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific operates domestic and international flights out of the low cost carrier terminal.

Inter-terminal transportation

Terminals of Kuala Lumpur International Airport are well connected with the KLIA Automated People Mover (Aerotrain), a three-car driverless train that runs on elevated rail and under the taxiways and also the bus system.

Main Terminal Building – LCCT

The LCCT is connected with the Main Terminal Building with a NadiKLIA bus for RM1.50. The Malaysian government announced in November 2006 that it had approved in principle the construction of a rail link between the Main Terminal Building and LCCT. However, the construction is pending until the new LCCT hub complex is fully constructed by 2010.

Main Terminal Building – Satellite Terminal A

The Main Terminal Building and Satellite Building are connected by Aerotrain at three to five minute intervals. The journey between terminals takes under two minutes, and each 250-person capacity train is able to transport 3,000 passengers per hour per direction with the maximum speed being 56 km/h (35mph). This is a complimentary service for all passengers traveling to/from Satellite Terminal

KLIA can be reached by the KLIA Express and the KLIA Transit train services. KLIA Express provides a non-stop express train service to the KL City Air Terminal – the non-stop trip between Kuala Lumpur and KLIA is 57km kilometers and takes 28 minutes.

KLIA maintained its place in the worlds top -10 airports with a 9th place finish, and a win in the Best Immigration Service category. Another repeat win from the 2010, KLIA continues to maintain a high level of staff service for the immigration formalities.

 

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