I remember the time I went to Ho Chi Minh with Pakciks when our tour guide, Hung said to Nazul and I how modern and big their airport is. I was looking at Nazul, he looked back at me. Is this guy serious? How could he compare our KLIA with Ho Chi Minh Airport? But seconds after that we realized that he was talking about our LCCT. Ok. Angkat tangan. Surrender. Our LCCT is seriously out of the league with Vietnamese Airport kan.
There is one article I read on the internet that listed LCCT as one of the worst airport in Asia. But on the good side, we're not that bad compared to some countries' main airports. (Source: http://www.sleepinginairports.net/2012/worst-airports-asia.htm)
Contrarily, in 2014 the World Airport Awards ranked LCCT at the 5th position behind Stansted, Berlin, Luton and Brussels for Best Low Cost Airport Category. Somehow, being there couples of times, LCCT is very much basic terminal and overly crowded. But I do understand that LCCT was initially built to cater about 10 million passengers, whereby today the total passengers using it are about 25 million.
On the other hand, KLIA was listed one of the best airport in the world, ranked 2nd for World's Best Airport serving 40-50 million passengers per year, that is behind South Korean's. However, there are a lot of improvements which could be done in KLIA, such as 24-hours dining restaurants and limousine services. Located about half an hour drive to Kuala Lumpur, logistic is very much important to passengers. With poor management in limousine and taxi, I am afraid that our tourists' satisfaction will be affected, especially at this year's Visit Malaysia Year 2014. However, I still have the feeling everytime I reach home in KLIA, the proud moment seeing our premium facilities that welcome everyone to Malaysian's gate.
This post is however not about KLIA. It's about klia2. I got the chance to visit klia2 last week. klia2 is our new low cost airport, replacing LCCT since May 1st. 5 airlines are operating here, of course, our AirAsia and Malindo Air, Cebu Pacific, Lion Air and Tiger Air. This airport is designed to cater 45 millions passengers per year with 250,000 sqm, 60 gates, 80 aerobridges, which is absolutely MASSIVE, compared to LCCT.
Being there the first time, I honestly have to say that I was impressed. It still have a 'little' look being the lost cost airport, but klia2 is clean, spacious space and there are many 'Ask Me' people around the huge airport to help passengers or visitors the get around. I could still see crowds, but I guess they must be the visitors to look around the new airport.
I was informed klia2 has the biggest shopping mall in the world, with 70,000 sqm of retail space, with 225 outlets. klia2 has its own shopping complex, deng! With 4 levels of retails space, there are relaxation zone, transportation stores, dining restaurants and retail stores. This building that consists them all is called the Gateway.
Located next to KLIA, there are many ways for you to get here. Just like KLIA, there are KLIA express, KLIA transit where you can get here directly from Kuala Lumpur Sentral. Besides, there are many busses, shuttles, KL Monorail and taxis for you to get around. But unfortunately I have not got the opportunity to try one, hopefully one day. As this is the low cost terminal, I hope that the transportation services available here would not cost as much as KLIA, especially the rate of limousine or taxis. At the moment, there are 6 hotels located in the airport, or maybe just right next to it. So, being the advantage here that can overcome the cons of LCCT which is the transportation services.
Having the new lost cost terminal with world class facilities is great for the image of the country. One day, I believe that the airport will overcome our main premium airport in term of passengers as there are many tourists who now prefer to travel cheap, and that is low cost airlines. Hopefully one day when I return home from overseas, in klia2, I will feel as proud as I was when I touched down in KLIA.
