AirAsia Bhd will begin operation at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) Terminal 1 on Dec 1 and not in early November as initially planned, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.
He said a one-month extension has been granted to the low-cost carrier although Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) announced last month that AirAsia must shift its operation from Terminal 2 in November.
“Several meetings were held between the ministry, Department of Civil Aviation, MAHB and AirAsia on the transfer and we have decided Dec 1 as the new date for them to begin operation in Terminal 1,” Liow said in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
During the question and answer session later, Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Aziz Kaprawi said it is only appropriate for AirAsia to transfer its operation as soon as possible to Terminal 1 from Terminal 2 as the present terminal has exceeded its capacity.
“The Terminal 1 capacity is about nine million but [utilisation] is currently only about three million. If AirAsia moves to the new terminal, the utilisation would expand to 6.7 million. So there is still room for expansion for the airline,” he said.
Terminal 2, where the lowcost carrier is operating, presently has already exceeded its passenger capacity of two million passengers per annum (ppa).
Last year, the terminal registered passenger traffic of 3.6 million people.
AirAsia was reluctant to move to Terminal 1 when it was asked to do so in 2011 where the last deadline given was August 1 this year.
The airline argued that Terminal 1 could not accommodate their future plans of adding more aircraft and bringing in its long-haul affiliate AirAsia X.
AirAsia currently flies 518 flights to and fro weekly for 10 international and eight domestic destinations.
Terminal 1, built at a cost of RM1.7 billion, handled 3.19 million of the total 6.79 million passengers last year. AirAsia is the only operator at Terminal 2.
Currently, 14 airlines are operating from Terminal 1, which provides 64 counters to cater for domestic and international flights.