SUBANG, July 30 — Six airlines will resume narrow-body aircraft operations on August 1 at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (LTSAAS) here.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the six are FireFly, AirAsia Malaysia, Batik Air Malaysia, SKS Airways, Transnusa, and Scoot Pte Ltd.
“The first jet operation, by Batik Air Malaysia, is scheduled for take-off on August 1 to Penang at noon and the arrival of Transnusa’s flight from Jakarta is scheduled for 2pm the same day,” he told a press conference after a walkabout at LTSAAS, also known as Subang Airport, today.
He said flight operations will be from 6am to 10pm, with no midnight flights, as the airport is in a residential area.
The resumption of narrow-body aircraft operations at Subang Airport comes after all jet operations were moved to Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 2002.
He said the airport had its limitations handling propeller-driven aircraft such as turboprops, helicopters, light, military craft and business jets.
“Following enhancements for interim jet operations, the apron was reconfigured. Six parking bays are now able to accommodate narrow-body jet aircraft including Boeing 737 and Airbus A320,” he said.
Loke noted that the terminal gross floor area rose by 6 per cent from 21,467sq m to 22,674, with three additional flight information display systems to accommodate the rise in capacity.
“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.
“I will also raise to the Cabinet tomorrow that there is a need for an autogate here as well,” he said.
On the airline’s approval to commence narrow-body operations, he said priorities were given to local airlines. Many airlines have requested to operate in LTSAAS, but the airport could not accommodate all requests.
He said this is just an interim phase and will be extended in two to three years.
LTSAAS will be transformed into a regional aviation hub with a maximum capacity of eight million annual passengers, in addition to generating thousands of high-value job opportunities for Malaysians.
— Bernama
