The increase in the construction cost of low-cost carrier terminal KLIA2 from RM2 billion to RM4 billion was mainly due to the fulfilment of requests made by AirAsia, the Dewan Rakyat was told yesterday.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said AirAsia, as the biggest operator at KLIA2, had among others, asked for more floor space and infrastructure, including extending and expanding the runway, more arrival and departure gates, an automatic baggage handling system and a premium airport lounge.
The airline also wanted its Tune Hotel and headquarters sited at the facility, he said.
"We entertained many requests by AirAsia - which I see as a golden child - to raise the specifications (at KLIA2) and this contributed to the higher cost.
"The requests by AirAsia had to be considered in view of new developments apart from the rapid expansion of the national airline industry," he said when winding up debate on the Royal address.
Abdul Aziz said the runway extension involved lengthening the runway from 2.5km to 4.4km and widening it to 2.2km to cater to bigger jets like the Airbus A380.
Floor space was expanded from 150,000 square metres to 250,000 sq m and the number of gates was increased from 55 to 68, he said, adding that the upgrading was to cater for an increased capacity of 45 million passengers annually.
The response from the deputy minister got Kinabatangan MP Bung Mokhtar Radin riled up and he demanded to know what was so special about AirAsia that its requests needed to be entertained.
Abdul Aziz replied that the requests were met based on commercial logic that the airline's views be given due consideration as it is the biggest tenant.
He also said the cost was still considered low compared with that of other countries as it costs only RM89 per passenger whereas in Germany it was RM478 per passenger for the same capacity.
"The Hong Kong International Airport costs RM2,143 (per passenger) and Singapore's Changi Airport, RM2,906 (per passenger). So in many ways, the KLIA2 is among the cheapest and fastest to be constructed," he said.
The Dewan sits again today. - Bernama, July 11, 2013.
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