AirAsia has come out to argue for a name change for the budget terminal KLIA2 to reflect the airport’s role as the region’s leading terminal for Low Cost Carriers. Before the airline moved from its old base in LCCT in May 2014, the other side of the existing runway, it was operating well beyond capacity.
With all the Low Cost Carriers now operating out of this new terminal, it is fitting that is is known as such and AirAsia is launching a campaign to promote the budget terminal KLIA2 as Low-Cost Carrier Terminal 2 (LCCT2). AirAsia alone operates over 220 flights daily to and from Kuala Lumpur.
Rationale
In launching the campaign on 13th June 2016, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes referred to the location as “.. becoming the Dubai of Asia, we want the world to know that the best value fares are here in Malaysia.”
He continued to say…
To me, KLIA2 doesn’t mean anything. LCCT2, on the other hand, is synonymous with low-cost. It is a brand that we built up together with Malaysia Airports and it shouldn’t go to waste. I urge MAHB to stop denying the fact that it is a low-cost hub. Tony Fernandes
The terminal also has facilities allowing passengers to ‘Fly-Thru’, without having to pass immigration and with their baggage checked through to the final destination. This is made full use of by AirAsia to offer a wider range of choices than available point-to-point.
…. AirAsia group occupies 97% of operations at LCCT with an average of 37,000 guests daily. Last year, AirAsia Group flew over 2.3 million guests into our main hub in Kuala Lumpur. Additionally, 1.3 million Fly-Thru guests came through Kuala Lumpur. As of May this year, close to 700,000 guests have done the same, including significant traffic from Singapore. In fact, Singapore-India is one of our top five most popular Fly-Thru pairings. Malaysians used to go to Singapore to catch onward flights. The fact that Singaporeans are now coming here shows the strength of our wide network and we are the Asian low-cost hub. We are particularly proud to be the largest foreign airline operating into China. As a group, we have carried over 33 million guests to and from China over the past ten years. In 2015, we carried 1.49 million Chinese guests into Malaysia, and are poised to push the envelope even further as we plan to strengthen our flight network between Asean and the Republic of China. In view of the high volume of traffic brought into Kuala Lumpur via the AirAsia Group, we need MAHB to acknowledge the fact that Kuala Lumpur is a true low-cost hub with enormous potential and they need to change their mindset to facilitate the need of a low-cost model and its rapid growth. Don Muaeng airport has overtaken KLIA2 as the world’s largest LCC airport as it works closely with their customers to bring in the traffic. MAHB needs to adapt the same approach for it to be relevant and gain back that recognition for Malaysia. AirAsia Berhad CEO Aireen Omar
AIRASIA – KLIA2 IS LCCT2
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