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KUALA LUMPURS NEW AIRPORT FACES CRITICISM

For some time now a strange epidemic has been raging in aviation: the virtual breakdown of newly-opened airports. The consequences are the same the world over: misdirected luggage and delays for hours are the most frequent symptoms, when nothing works on high tech hubs, which have cost billions. The reason is that the interplay of man and electronic subsystems does not function. This was the case with the US-Prairie hub Denver, the Malpensa Airport in Milan and Hong Kong's hypermodern Island Airport Chek Lap Kok.

The story was no different when the new airport in the capital of the South East Asian Tiger State Malaysia started to operate end of June. Computer systems crashed, luggage was left behind and long delays occured at KLIA, Kuala Lumpur's International Airport, which costed DM four billion. During KLIA's first few days passengers and airlines were anything but delighted. The public reacted in the same way that it did in Hong Kong: displeased. A Malaysian politician who was a member of the opposition party, demanded the closure of the airport and called the hitches in the prestigious building "a shame for the country". However, this is not where the disasters ended. To top it all the "New Straits Times" printed a report about a rat infestation at the airport.

One manager, who would like to remain unnamed, claimed that badly trained employees and sloppy ground controls were mainly to blame for the initial mishaps. Some of the workmen at the apron had not even been able to operate their walkie-talkies. Others, who had to deal with a host of electronic equipment, were not able to speak English. The luggage conveyor belts had only been tested with empty suitcases. The Malaysian Government had obviously been under pressure to open the high-technology airport in time for the Commonwealth Games.

Six months after the disastrous premiere the situation is more relaxed. There are still muddles with the luggage. And it can still happen that after an 11 hour flight, passengers may have to wait for 30 minutes in front of locked gate doors, because the key cannot be found. However, it is claimed that the airport is now "95 per cent functional". "This enormous state-of-the-art airport will be Asia's first mega airport. It will be able to fulfil Malaysia's aviation needs for the next hundred years," writes the Airport Authority pompously.

However, the main problem at the new airport has not yet been overcome. It will probably never be solved. KLIA is situated about 70 km south of the capital's centre, which is too far away. Planners wanted to position the big airport just outside Putra Jaya, Kuala Lumpur's new administration stronghold. Despite its immense size, (capacity in the last stage of expansion is up to 100 million passengers per year), and flights around the clock, KLIA was supposed to operate in harmony with the environment. Big expanses of rain forest surround it and inside the building jungle behind glass and steel reflect the wish for an ecologically correct airport.

But the planning strategists seem to have forgotten that the drive on the three-lane toll road from Kuala Lumpur's city centre takes one hour if there are no delays. If the streets of the metropolis, which has millions of inhabitants, are jammed, it could take two to three hours. And up to now there is no railway link. Siemens is supposed to construct it, the company received a DM 1,3 billion contract at the end of October. But the rail link will not be completed before the summer of 2002. Until then KLIA will not be easy to get to, and this fact will give rise to many complaints.

The Home Carrier Malaysian Airline System, (MAS), is suffering from the difficult location. On the opening day MAS moved all flights from the old Subang Airport, which is situated close to the city, to the new site. However, the passengers did not play their part and flew with privately owned competitors. Pelangi Air, Air Asia, Transmile and Berjaya Air gained a lot of ground as far as their domestic flight business was concerned, because they were still flying from Subang. By comparison the state-owned MAS, which had already taken a beating since the Asian economic crisis began, suffered a dramatic loss of market share with its planes standing empty on the brand new home base. The decision was finally taken to include the old base again in its route network. Since October MAS offers connecting Boeing 737 flights to almost all domestic destinations with Subang Airport, "due to request from the public", as a spokesperson cautiously put it. In order to avoid transfer problems, international flights still go to and from KLIA. Apart from Ipoh in the north west of Malaysia, all of MAS's domestic destinations will be served from the two airports. What the additional costs of this arrangement are, remains unknown. For Manfred Traiser, Sales Executive of MAS Germany, the Subang flights are an "interesting alternative" - everything is just a matter of interpretation.

From page 34 of FLUG REVUE 2/99