Malaysia Airports to expand KLIA but no new terminal planned

MAHB managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said the facilities that have been identified to undergo enhancements and upgrading are the baggage handling system and the Aerotrain.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is looking to expand the KLIA Main Terminal in Sepang and also undertake modification and systems upgrade in the next five years as it is reaching its capacity.

However, there are no immediate plans to build a  third terminal for KLIA, it said in a press statement issued on Wednesday.

It said MAHB managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali was misquoted during the ground breaking ceremony of the senior aerospace facility at Subang Aerotech Park on Tuesday.

“Datuk Badlisham was referring to the KLIA Main Terminal expansion, modification and systems upgrade that are being planned and slated to be built in the next five years,” it said.

MAHB said KLIA currently has a combined capacity of 75 million passengers per annum and in 2017 it had registered 58.6 million passenger traffic movements. 

Hence, the airport as a whole still has ample capacity to cater for immediate future traffic growth. 

MAHB pointed out that however, the 20-year old KLIA Main Terminal is already nearing its capacity of 30 million passengers per annum. 

As such, plans are already underway to upgrade and expand this terminal so that it can add further capacity of between 15 to 20 million more passengers. 

Facilities that have been identified to undergo enhancements and upgrading are the baggage handling system and the Aerotrain. 

The existing terminal building will be expanded and modified to increase the efficiency and facilities such as boarding gates and apron parking.  These upgrades and expansion will be completed within the next five years.  

Badlisham said MAHB was “still decades away from adding another new terminal to the KLIA airport system”. 

At the interview he said  “The KLIA Masterplan allocates ample land and can cater for more midfield terminals for KLIA and klia2 as well as another runway in the future. 

“At the moment we are committed to invest in upgrades and expansion of the current terminals to increase capacity. Then only we can talk about a brand new terminal – KLIA3, but that is decades away”.