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Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) is pleased to announce that at the 15th World Route Development Forum taking place in Beijing, China, KL International Airport (KLIA) is launching the world’s first Next Generation Hub which will introduce facilities to enable passengers to connect seamlessly between all types of carrier and between different types of terminals.
Sallauddin Mat Sah, General Manager of Malaysia Airports, said: “Today’s passengers are presented with numerous options from full service carriers, low cost carriers, various routings, prices and so on. The best option could be a combination of a full service carrier and a low cost carrier”. He elaborated: “However, selecting the best combination of carriers, routing and price is not easy since there is no single portal for the passenger to use. The Next Generation Hub is set to change that – by providing the passenger with tools to plan an itinerary that best suits his or her needs, as well as the physical infrastructure to integrate and enable connections between full service carriers and low cost carriers”.
Sallauddin goes on to explain that “Malaysia Airports is already seeing a growing trend of passengers who self-connect between the Main Terminal Building and Low Cost Carrier Terminal at KLIA. A feasibility study revealed that the existing landside bus transfer service between the two terminals sees at least 500 ‘self connect’ passengers per day (or 1,000 passenger movements), representing an annual market of over 180,000 passengers”.
KLIA is well positioned as a Next Generation Hub as KLIA today offers both the largest volume of routes and traffic carried by low cost carriers, making KLIA a market leader in this sector in the Asia Pacific region and indeed globally. By capitalising on the trends and developments within the airline industry and consumer environment such as the rise of Internet bookings and the era of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, Malaysia Airports is seizing the opportunity to create and shape a world first Next Generation Hub at KLIA and foresees that the number of connecting passengers between the two terminals could grow significantly in the next few years.
According to David Stroud, Chairman of ASM (consultant to the Next Generation Hub project), “In the coming weeks and months, ASM is working very closely with Malaysia Airports to develop and implement new exciting products to create a truly unique Next Generation Hub where passengers travelling on all routes, all types of airlines and all terminals can connect. Specifically, the development of the hub will revolve around three core elements, namely, Marketing, Operations and Airline Engagement”.
Under marketing, initiatives will be both airline and passenger focused which will allow Malaysia Airports to develop a more active and direct relationship with existing and potential customers globally. A major initiative that Malaysia Airports and ASM have successfully implemented with an Iceland-based technology company is the development of flyklia.com. Today marks the launch of the portal to the global aviation community, many of whom are represented at the World Routes event in Beijing.
Tony Griffin, Chief Operating Officer of ASM, explains that www.flyklia.com provides an itinerary builder that integrates all airlines schedules and fares, including full service carriers and low cost carriers. This allows travellers to see the best flight options and connections to, from and through Kuala Lumpur in a simple and user friendly format”.
Sallauddin adds that “The portal is free to use and search results include links to airlines and travel agent websites where travellers can book flights directly. This portal will continue to be extensively enhanced over the coming months and Malaysia Airports is also looking at adding other initiatives such as an airport loyalty scheme for frequent flyers”.
With the launch of the website, Malaysia Airports is also excited to introduce the new “KLIA Next Generation Hub – The New Way to the World” branding to convey the Next Generation Hub as a new way of doing things for both passengers and airlines.
A number of operational initiatives are also underway, for example, the introduction of an enhanced passenger and baggage transfer flow between the Main Terminal Building and Low Cost Carrier Terminal. Malaysia Airports is hoping to launch this inter-terminal transfer product in late 2009.
Malaysia Airports is also seeking participation and cooperation from all airlines, both full service carriers and low cost carriers, to look at areas such as network coordination and schedule synchronisation to facilitate the development of the Next Generation Hub.
Tatiana is the news co-ordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
