Malaysian airport struggles as more airlines stop services to country
Malaysian airport struggles as more airlines stop services to country
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The Malaysian government has established a high level committee to find ways to counter a run of service cancellations by major airlines, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
British Airways and All Nippon Airways, Japan's second largest carrier, have announced they will cease flying to Malaysia by April while Lufthansa of Germany and Australia's Qantas stopped their operations over the past two years.
All four airlines cited consolidation and losses for stopping their operations in Malaysia.
Malaysian aviation authorities have been struggling to turn the 9 billion ringgit (US$2.36 billion) Kuala Lumpur International Airport into a major hub rivaling Singapore and Bangkok ever since it opened in 1998 at the height of the Asian economic crisis.
Chairman of Malaysia Airports Basir Ismail said Tuesday that the four airlines' pullout would not affect the airport's operations because other carriers such as Cathay Pacific and Emirates Airlines had increased their flights to Malaysia.
The New Straits Times newspaper quoted Basir as saying that the international airport and another smaller airport which caters for domestic flights are expected to handle 19 million passengers this year, a million more than last year.
Tourism Minister Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said the government was studying problems faced by foreign airlines flying into Kuala Lumpur that weaknesses in airport operations were not the cause.
"Initial studies have revealed that there were no problems with KLIA or Malaysia Airlines," the New Straits Times quoted him as saying. "These (foreign) airlines were facing internal operational problems."
He said, however, that the airport had problems with late baggage clearance which had forced some passengers to wait for hours to collect their bags after clearing immigration.
Kadir said special incentives would be offered to airport workers to clear the baggage quickly.
He said a Cabinet commission would draw up measures to make Malaysia's airports more "visitor friendly."