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KUALA LUMPUR : Budget carrier AirAsia on Thursday unveiled plans to shift to its own 460 million dollar airport outside Kuala Lumpur and abandon its overcrowded terminal next to the main international hub.
The move has thrown into doubt the national airport operator's plans to build a new Low Cost Carrier Terminal next to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), to replace the existing facility that opened in 2006.
"We believe in lowering our business costs. It is the key to our success," AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes told a press conference.
"The new airport, which will be known as KLIA East, will provide more capacity for aircraft and passengers and enable us to bring down fares," he said, adding that costs could be cut by 30 percent.
Fernandes rejected criticism that KLIA has more than enough capacity to handle AirAsia's growth plans and that the sprawling city has no need for what would be its fourth airport.
"I think we know what we need, we are not silly," he said. "There is nothing here (at the old terminal) to add value to our passengers. Allow us to take our destiny in our own hands."
Fernandes said the new airport would be exclusively for AirAsia, and designed to handle up to 30 million passengers annually. Construction could begin within six months with a completion date of March 2011.
The new airport would be linked by new train and road links and about 30 minutes' drive from the city centre - less than the journey to KLIA.
Malaysian conglomerate Sime Darby had said it had won government approval to begin the project, which is to be the centrepiece of its new development at Labu in Negri Sembilan state.
"We have a fantastic partner, it will enhance tourism. We will also have a theme park, it will be like Orlando airport, where Disneyland is located," Fernandes said.
AirAsia has dramatically outgrown its rough-and-ready terminal adjoining KLIA, which has no rail links with the city or the main airport and has become increasingly crowded and unpleasant for passengers.
The terminal was completed in just nine months, with capacity for 10 million passengers and a provision for expansion to 15 million.
However, AirAsia secured more international rights than had been expected, and was handed many domestic routes by Malaysia Airlines during an overhaul of the national carrier.
The expansion of the current low-cost terminal is due to be completed by March, but by then AirAsia will already have exceeded its enlarged capacity with some 15.7 million passengers a year.
"Our projection showed that within one year the airport will be bursting at its seams again," Fernandes said.
Even with a completely new LCCT terminal, KLIA's runways cannot accommodate AirAsia's expanding fleet that will include a larger number of wide-bodied jets, he said.
Fernandes said Malaysia Airports Holdings would have to make its own decision on whether to proceed with its proposed new low-cost terminal near KLIA, which it has said could be completed by the end of 2011.
Former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who during two decades in power initiated a number of mega-projects including KLIA, has rubbished the AirAsia plan and said the main international airport can handle another 100 million passengers.
"What happens to the low cost terminal at KLIA we have built only recently with such great speed?" he said on his blog www.chedet.com. - AFP/so/de
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