More routes, more choices

AS someone who prefers travelling out of Subang rather than KL International Airport, I greeted the news that jet services have returned to the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah airport effective yesterday with mixed feelings.

I am happy that we now have more options when it comes to Asean as well as Sabah and Sarawak destinations. Because the default travel locations out of Subang Skypark is to either Penang or Singapore – predominantly.

The return of jet operations via narrow-body aircraft (either Boeing 737 or Airbus A320) after 26 years is great news for passengers looking to have alternative means of travel.

Subang Skypark will become a true city airport and will complement KLIA’s Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. It’s high time that this happened because our neighbours are ahead of us in this respect.

Bangkok has both Suvarnabhumi and the smaller Don Mueang, while Singapore has been utilising Seletar to compliment Changi for some time now.

Firefly has been monopolising operations at the Skypark via its twin turboprop aircraft, the ATR 72-500, and the airline took out a cheeky advertisement in The Star last week. “Welcome to Our Home”, read the ad. “Firefly welcomes the newcomers. AirAsia, Batik Air, Scoot and TransNusa.”

Gracious enough from FireFly, but the return of the other airlines to Subang means that competition will be much fiercer now. The airline will have to drop prices because its competitors are offering introductory rates to fly to Penang for only RM200 or Singapore for the same amount.

If you are a regular on Firefly’s turboprops (I am a fan), you would know that their rates can go as high as RM1,500 for a roundtrip ticket to Singapore. So, this can only mean travellers will be enjoying discounted fares out of Subang as these airlines jostle for customers.

But this is where I feel this move hasn’t really been thought out. Infrastructure modifications were made to accommodate the jets and according to the Transport Minister, the check-in process is expected to be smoother with 14 common-use check-in counters, four self-service bag drop facilities and 15 self-service kiosks to be installed.

He said security screening, Customs and Immigration processes are expected to improve given the installation of additional facilities and equipment. Immigration counters have also been increased from three to four for departures, and three to eight for arrivals.

But what about the infrastructure around the airport? Traffic congestion during peak hours is notorious and good luck trying to find an outdoor parking. The drop-off and pick-up lanes are also full at certain times of the day.

The roads from Subang leading to and from the Federal Highway and the New Klang Valley Expressway are badly lit and potholed. The jams will surely get worse with these increased flights.

Malaysia Airports Bhd (MAHB) and the Skypark operator should be more transparent on how they plan to improve traffic management as well as safety at the airport.

As for the airlines themselves with 15 additional slots for jet operations, the limited landing and takeoff slots in Subang could lead to delays unless the airspace management for KLIA and Subang is changed.

The current SOP is one take off and one landing at a time. This means that if a plane takes off at KLIA, the aircraft at Subang can only taxi.

This is something that the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) should look into and the ruling that jet flights are only allowed from 6am to 10pm, which means there will be no midnight flights at the airport.

One wonders why Mavcom in their wisdom decided to give operating licenses for Subang to both Scoot and TransNusa? Why provide opportunities for foreign owned airlines when our local operators are more than capable of taking on additional flights to Indonesia and Singapore?

Meanwhile, the Transport Minister also said that the Skypark Link, a train service connecting KL Sentral station to the airport’s Skypark Terminal, will resume operations once the new terminal is ready by 2027. The service was suspended in February last year due to low ridership of fewer than 100 passengers a day.

It’s good that a new terminal is being built to cater to increased footfall, but the Skypark Link should be restarted soon, preferably this year, not in 2027.

This 30km dedicated train line connects KL Sentral to Skypark via the Subang Jaya terminal. It’s a no-brainer to use this service because a ride from KL Sentral will only take between 20 and 24min as compared with an hour driving, only to pay exorbitant parking charges.

If KTM is reluctant to restart this airport express, private companies should be allowed to bid for this service. Low ridership would not be an issue if we were to charge anything from RM10-RM12 for this 30km stretch.

Passenger traffic at Skypark this year is expected to reach close to two million which is a far cry from the record pre-Covid-19 numbers in 2018 when passenger traffic was 3.4 million.

The resumption of jet operations in Subang Skypark will surely see an uptick in these numbers.

But this should go hand in hand with better facilities, wider and better lit access roads, restarting the airport express and an assurance of higher safety standards on par with other city airports.