AirAsia prefers a low-cost terminal in Labu

Wednesday December 24, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: Budget airline AirAsia Bhd and Sime Darby Bhd have confirmed their interest to jointly develop and operate an RM1.6bil private low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) in Labu, Negri Sembilan.

Approval for the terminal in Labu, to be known as KLIA-East@Labu, was expected “shortly, possibly in a few days,” officials of AirAsia and the developer, Sime Darby, told reporters at a briefing yesterday.

In separate announcements to the stock exchange yesterday, AirAsia and Sime Darby said the two companies have “jointly expressed an interest to the Government of Malaysia to develop and operate a private low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT Project) on the Sime Darby group’s land in Negri Sembilan.”

Both announcements said “the LCCT Project was in the initial planning phase and the companies were engaged in preliminary discussions with state and federal authorities.”

Officials of both companies said that while details had to be ironed out, the project, estimated to cost about RM1.6bil, would be privately funded.

The RM1.6bil was an estimate of the cost of structures and the runway but did not include the 3,000-acre land where it would be built.

“We are very much at the planning stage and the land valuation certainly has not been done yet,” a Sime Darby spokesman said.

Sime Darby, in its filing, said the collaboration was an intergral part of the company’s plan for its Negri Sembilan Vision City (NSVC).

The NSVC is part of Sime Darby’s Central Vision Valley property development project spanning Selangor and Negri Sembilan, a concept which includes seaside resorts, a medical city and a safari park, among others.

It was reported that Sime Darby is expected to take up a majority stake in the joint venture.

“After the construction, we will turn over the whole project including the land to AirAsia who is the client. We are not operating the airport,” the Sime Darby spokesman said.

AirAsia said the Labu LCCT project would address its overcapacity problem when completed in 2011 and that it was preferable to another LCCT project proposed by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).

The LCCT proposed by MAHB is expected to completed by 2014.

“The completion date for the new permanent LCCT proposed by MAHB is too late to keep up with our passenger growth,” AirAsia said.

The Star

MAHB Close To Completing Negotiations With Two To Three New Carriers

October 13, 2008 16:48 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 13 (Bernama) -- Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is close to completing negotiations with two to three new carriers to start operations in Malaysia before end of this year, says its managing director Datuk Seri Bashir Ahmad Abdul Majid.

"MAHB is confident that during the Routes conference the airport group is close to completing negotiations with two to three new carriers to start operations in Malaysia before year-end, so watch this space," he said in a statement today.

Since beginning of the year, MAHB has welcomed over 55 new routes from 12 airlines, generating around 200 additional weekly flights, a significant achievement given the current economic climate and the impact of high oil prices on the world's airlines.

At the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), national carrier Malaysia Airlines has started flying to Karachi and Yogyakarta while low-cost carrier AirAsia has launched flights to Guangzhou, Yogyakarta, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Haikou, Guilin, Batam and Pekanbaru.

MAHB said AirAsia's long haul sister company AirAsia X has launched flights to Hangzhou and Gold Coast.

KLIA has also attracted two new low-cost carriers on the deregulated Singapore route, Jetstar Asia and Tiger Airways, it said.

The airport operator said the Penang International Airport had received three new routes from Sriwijaya Air and Indonesia AirAsia as well as increased frequencies from Cathay Pacific.

In East Malaysia, the Kota Kinabalu International Airport has gained four new air services comprising Jakarta, Denpasar (both operated by Indonesia AirAsia), Manila (Cebu Pacific) and Labuan (AirAsia).

Indonesia AirAsia has also launched new services from Kuching to Jakarta and Denpasar.

MAHB said the Langkawi International Airport also attracted a number of new carriers operating short charter programmes.

It said the rest of the year continues to look bright with another seven destinations already announced to start before the end of the year.

MAHB said no new carriers are not expected on the fully deregulated Kuala Lumpur-Singapore trunk route from Dec 1, 2008.

However, it said that Tiger and AirAsia have already announced considerable frequency increases with both carriers adding an additional four daily frequencies, with AirAsia up to six daily from two daily and Tiger up to five daily from one daily. MAHB manages and operates 39 airports in Malaysia, including five international, 16 domestic and 18 short take-off and landing airports.

Source: BERNAMA

AirAsia To Launch Kuching-Singapore Direct Flight On Nov 1

October 08, 2008 18:24 PM

KUCHING, Oct 8 (Bernama) -- AirAsia, which has secured rights to fly from Kuching direct to Singapore, will launch its first flight on the Kuching-Singapore sector on Nov 1 as part of the efforts to enhance air connectivity to Sarawak.

Its group chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes said on Wednesday the low-cost carrier, which obtained the approval only yesterday, would open for sale 5,000 free seats beginning midnight today until Oct 19 this year, excluding surcharge and airport tax, on the new route.

"We fought for six years (for the further liberalisation of aviation industry, especially between Malaysia and Singapore) and have a very aggressive marketing campaign in Singapore," he told a media briefing here, which was also attended by Sarawak Urban Development and Tourism Minister Datuk Michael Manyin.

Fernandes said AirAsia would initially have one flight daily but would expand the frequencies in future once its proposed low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT) here was established.

It was also looking at the direct flight connectivity between Kota Kinabalu and Sibu, following numerous requests from the state's tourism industry and people to service that sector as well as reinstate the daily Kuching-Macau route within three months after the flight was scheduled to be suspended on Oct 26, he said.

Fernandes said when the airlines started its operations in Sarawak, it was committed to developing both the state's tourism and business industry by opening up new air links with other regional destinations but the lack of support from Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd in granting certain concessions had caused it to review and rationalise some of its routes from here recently.

He said the Kuching-Bali direct flight was being stopped because the high charges and bureaucratic management had hampered its efforts to changing market conditions, especially when the airlines industry was experiencing a tough period due to the global fuel hike.

AirAsia, which flies a total of 182 flights weekly into and within Sarawak, has carried more than 3.6 million passengers in the state so far, with its market share of the Kuala Lumpur-Kuching sector growing to 68 percent at present from 33 percent in 2003.

Fernandes said almost one million passengers were recorded in the Sarawak sector so far this year, generating about RM718 million in revenue.

He projected that some five million passengers would have flown AirAsia into and out of the state by 2013.

Source: BERNAMA

Malaysia Gains From Asia-Pacific's Air Passenger Growth

October 03, 2008 16:43 PM

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Bernama) -- The Asia-Pacific is recording the fastest growth in air passenger volumes worldwide with Malaysia among the countries in the region gaining from the trend.

According to Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's managing director Datuk Seri Bashir Ahmad, booming markets like India, China and Macau will make Asia-Pacific the world's largest aviation market in the coming years.

"More passengers are travelling in this region and this has also contributed to Malaysia's tourism market," he said in an interview after attending the four-day Airports Council International (ACI) general assembly and world conference and exhibition which ended in Boston, US, last week.

Bashir, a member of the ACI governing council, said though the current economic difficulties affected airport operators worldwide, those in the Asia-Pacific were still doing better than their counterparts in other regions.

Malaysia Airports, he said, expects to record a growth of 5.5 percent in passenger volume this year, higher than the industry average of 4.2 percent.

He also said that the airports managed by the company recorded good passenger growth in the first seven months of this year and this was expected to slow down in the remaining months.

At the conference, ACI Asia-Pacific president Max Moore-Wilton said Asia-Pacific is expected to overtake North America and Europe to become the world's largest regional market in the next 10 years.

"This is being driven by the growing economies of India and China, and the region will see the development of new high quality airports," he said.

Asia-Pacific, he added, already has five of the world's top 30 airports in terms of international passengers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Taipei and Kuala Lumpur.

In its forecast report, the ACI said Asia-Pacific will lead the other regions with its passenger volume growing at a rate of 6.3 percent annually over the next 20 years with India and China recording growth of 9.2 percent and 9.1 percent respectively.

The fastest growing routes will be between Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, it added.

In freight operations, Asia-Pacific is expected to post the fastest growth in freight tonnage with 6.6 percent, compared to the industry average of 5.1 percent, annually over the next 20 years, the ACI said.

At the general assembly attended by over 2,000 representatives from the global airport industry, a ceremony was held to recognise Malaysia Airports as the host of next year's ACI general assembly and world conference and exhibition which will be held in Kuala Lumpur from November 2 to 5.

Randall Walker, chairman of ACI North America, the current host, presented to Bashir an antique clock to mark the countdown to the 2009 event.

ACI is an international body that campaigns airport interests and promotes professional excellence in airport management and operators. Its members manage 1,650 airports in 65 countries.

Source: BERNAMA