Narrow body aircraft ops to resume at Subang Airport
Six airlines will resume narrow body aircraft operations tomorrow at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, also known as the Subang Airport, in Selangor.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the airlines are FireFly, AirAsia, Batik Air, SKS Airways, Transnusa and Scoot Pte Ltd.
“The first jet operation, by Batik Air, is scheduled for takeoff on Aug 1 to Penang at noon and the arrival of Transnusa’s flight from Jakarta is scheduled at 2pm the same day,” he told a press conference after a walkabout at the airport yesterday.
He said flight operations would be from 6am to 10pm, with no midnight flights as the airport is located in a residential area.
The resumption of narrow body aircraft operations comes after all jet operations were moved to the KL International Airport in 2002.
He said the Subang Airport had limitations handling propeller driven aircraft, such as turboprops, military aircraft and business jets.
“Following enhancements for interim jet operations, the apron was reconfigured. Six parking bays are now able to accommodate narrow body aircraft.”
Loke said the terminal gross floor area rose by 6% from 21,467sq m to 22,674sq m, with three additional flight information display systems to accommodate the rise in capacity, Bernama reported.
“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 raise in the Cabinet tomorrow that there is a need for an autogate as well.”
On the airlines’ approval to commence narrow body operations, he said priority was given to local airlines as many airlines requested inclusion but the airport could not accommodate all requests.
He said this is an interim phase to be extended in two to three years.
The airport will be transformed into a regional aviation hub with a maximum capacity of eight million annual passengers, generating thousands of high value job opportunities for Malaysians.