Having accommodated the passage of one million passengers through its gates since it opened on May 2, the new KLIA2 airport has proven it is safe, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein said yesterday.
Hishamuddin made the statement in response to reports of purported hazards dotting the new airport’s runways, in the form of sunken tarmac surfaces and sloping parking bays, leading to at least one pilot to explicitly request not to be assigned to Taxiway U4, claimed to be the worst part of the new runway.
Hishamuddin said KLIA had been averaging a traffic flow of 60,000 passengers a day, with expectations to hit a total of 24 million passengers served within the first 12 months of operation.
“If it’s so critical, we won’t be looking at that kind of traffic flow,” he said to reporters during his first official visit to the new terminal.
Nevertheless, The Malay Mail Online reports that Hishamuddin has commissioned Ikram Premier Consulting and the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to study the complaints levied against KLIA2, and are expected to produce a report “as soon as possible”.
The two parties had earlier assessed the airport’s safety measures before its opening and had deemed it to be in compliance with established safety standards.
Last week, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) insisted that KLIA2’s runways are safe for take-off and landing.
MAHB explained that it had previously said that the “settlement at localised spots” amounting to less than one per cent of the airport apron was “anticipated due to differential settlement”, giving its assurance that it was however be “well-prepared with a clear and workable engineering solution”.
“We also wish to iterate that there is no impact to flight operations of any airlines as KLIA2 has ample aircraft parking bays to accommodate the aircraft movements,” it added.
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