LABU AIRPORT Chedet.co.cc January 17, 2009 By Dr. Mahathir Mohamad 1. Air Asia has done well to explain the justification for the so-called KLIA-East in Labu. 2. Not having the facilities and personnel I can only give my very unprofessional view on the justification: a) Passenger Capacity I must congratulate Air Asia on its very remarkable success. By 2014 it will handle 26 million passengers. Present terminal at KLIA is handling about 25 million passengers. KLIA is planned to handle 125 million passengers. It has 25,000 acres of land to build another terminal and four satellites. It can even duplicate these terminals and satellites. But Air Asia wants low-cost terminals with no aero-bridge, no luxury interiors. This is not a problem for KLIA. There is enough space in the 25,000 acres of reserved land to build the low-cost terminal to accommodate the 60 million Air Asia passengers in the distant future. MAHB (Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad) can do this. (Incidentally Putrajaya has only 10,000 acres of land). However, by 2014 the total number of Air Asia passengers would only be 27 million. Accommodating this number should be no big deal for MAHB. b) Runway capacity By 2014 Air Asia will have 77 aircrafts. LCCT capacity will still be for 33 aircrafts. Does Air Asia expect all its aircrafts to be on the ground in LCCT all the time? Usually some would be in the air and many would be at other airports. Expanding the parking area would not be too difficult. There would still be enough land at KLIA. As for the runways Times Online reports that Heathrow will now build its third runway to be completed in 2020. Presently Heathrow has only two runways and it still handles almost 70 million passengers. As stated above, KLIA can build another three runways to handle 125 million passengers. If passengers and aircrafts increase to more than presently handled by Heathrow, a third runway can quickly be built. If KLIA LCCT is not connected by rail and bus, the thing to do is to provide all these. Extension to the Express Rail Link line can be built. Terrain is no problem. We have sliced through higher hills to build roads. If the waiting time for taxis has increased due to the huge airport layout (I don't understand this), whatever solution for this problem is proposed for Labu, the same solution can also be applied to KLIA LCCT. c) Number of Gates Since Air Asia will not be using the main terminal why should the small number of gates there be of concern to Air Asia? If Air Asia will be putting more than 55 Gates at Labu to cater for its large number of aircrafts and movements, why cannot LCCT at KLIA be expanded to have maybe 100 Gates to avoid any shortages? Will Labu be provided with 100 Gates? If so, when? Again, why be bothered about KLIA Terminal being equipped with aero-bridges etc when Air Asia does not want to use it? 3. The comparison with Dubai and Jackson Atlanta International Airport is misleading. 4. The picture shows four runways (no indication which airport). Multiple runways is common but they are operated by one airport with one control tower. The picture and the layout does not suggest separate towers for different runways. You cannot have multiple runways close to each other but controlled by different towers. 5. Perhaps Air Asia can show documents that separations between different airport runways of 2km are permissible. Is there any example of two major airports operating separately but located 2km from each other? I don't know. Please enlighten me. 6. The problem prompting the idea of a new airport is the allegedly high charges by MAHB for the use of LCCT by Air Asia. MAHB is owned by Khazanah and it is believed Khazanah has a stake in Air Asia. Both are therefore GLCs. The Government can tell them to negotiate fair charges. Or is it the Government that wants this airport at Labu for reasons other than need? 7. Or is it that Sime Darby now wants to go into airport business? 359 Comments By apanamaAuthor Profile Page on January 17, 2009 4:07 PM SAVE KLIA & OUR MONEY! SAY NO TO ANOTHER AIRPORT IN LABU.IF WE START FEARING THEN 'THEY' WILL START TREATING US LIKE IDIOTS! WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF ABDULLAH BADAWI AND HIS CRONIES. STOP IT! By Saliz AliAuthor Profile Page on January 17, 2009 4:19 PM Salam Tun, Saya tak nampak ketulusan kerajaan dalam perkara KLIA-East ni, melainkan nak menghabiskan duit rakyat. Dan kerajaan akan berterusan mengatakan 'KITA BUAT NI SEMUA UNTUK RAKYAT'...padahal menghabiskan duit rakyat. Maaf Tun, but we should change the government to make sure that the government tidak sesuka hati belanja ikut hati. Sebagai contoh, pembelian peralatan untuk institut2 latihan, 10 projek hanya diberi kepada 10 syarikat kroni, sedangkan puluhan lagi syarikat2 kecil yang menunggu projek2 sebegini. Yang kaya bertambah kaya, yang kayap bertambah kayap. Salam. By dewadannyAuthor Profile Page on January 17, 2009 4:31 PM Assalamualaikum Tun, Walaubagaimana sekali pun alasan dan perkara yang cuba diterangkan oleh pihak AirAsia. Pastinya ia adalah amat melucukan. Hari ini kita sudah ada 2 airport terminal. KLIA & LCCT. Buat apa lagi nak ada kat labu? Jauh dari K.L Apa mungkin ia hanya baik untuk penduduk Utara Johor, Melaka & Negeri Sembilan. Kesimpulannya kalau PM nak tinggalkan LEGASI nya sempat ke dia buat perasmian? atau bakal Ketua Pemuda UMNO yang baru teringin sesangat menabur jasa pada penduduk setempat. Ialah setakat ni selain hanya buat projek pembangunan yang tak boleh nak diketengahkan dirinya. Jadi saranan saya, selepas ni kita pastikan saja mereka2 ni tak dapat berkuasa lagi.... Tapi boleh! jika iman Kita kuatlah dengan dugaan KEMEWAHAN & HABUAN dari orang yang pernah paling berkuasa di tingkat 4 JPM. By phantagarow82Author Profile Page on January 17, 2009 4:34 PM we dont need another airport at the same place. it would look crowded and messy. not elegant at all and shame to us malaysian for not being able to manage our space efficiently.. By "My Way"Author Profile Page on January 17, 2009 4:40 PM Dear Tun, The explanation by Tony really shows how much they want that KLIA-East badly. It is true that we have such a huge amount of land at the present KLIA and all we need is just build another 1 or 2 satellite building exclusively for Air Asia only. Ironically, the Cabinet can just agree to the idea or probably they are just 'yes man' to the PM and Tony. Sime Darby definitely fits the puzzle in this debacle as well! It must be a farewell gift for the PM, good grief! Probably it would be called Abdullah Badawi International Airport!...God forbid! Just hope that this battle wud not die-off, we've got to have our say and tell the government how much we are against this wastage of having another airport or will just be another laughing stock to Singapore and Thailand....which we are.... By Allen FrancisAuthor Profile Page on January 17, 2009 4:40 PM Saya, Ahmad Adzlan Fadzli Bin Khairi, rakyat Malaysia, di sini meminta penjelasan dari Kerajaan Malaysia tentang pembinaan Lapangan Terbang Labu. Saya, Ahmad Adzlan Fadzli Bin Khairi, rakyat Malaysia, di sini meminta Kerajaan Malaysia tidak menyembunyikan apa-apa maklumat yang berkaitan dengan Lapangan Terbang Labu ini daripada rakyat. Saya, Ahmad Adzlan Fadzli Bin Khairi, rakyat Malaysia, meminta Kerajaan Malaysia agar tidak memperkecil intelek rakyat dan membazirkan wang rakyat untuk sesuatu yang tidak perlu. Saya Ahmad Adzlan Fadzli Bin Khairi, rakyat Malaysia. By AdliayobAuthor Profile Page on January 17, 2009 4:43 PM Ybhg. Tun. Sebagai salah seorang ALUMNI SMAP (Sek. Men. Agama Persekutuan, Labu) dan pernah menghabiskan masa 5 tahun disana ketika dahulu, saya ingin ucapkan BRAVO dan TAHNIAH kepada kedua-dua AirAsia dan Sime Darby kerana berjaya mewujudkan satu lagi airport yang canggih di negara ini. Saya juga seorang pengguna aktif LCCT di KLIA memandangkan saya bermastautin di Semporna, Sabah. Dalam satu tahun, lebih 8 kali saya menggunakan LCCT sebagai 'gate' untuk saya berulang-alik dari Malaysia Timur dan Malaysia Barat. Saya merasakan agak rimas kerana 'kesesakan manusia' setiap kali saya berada di LCCT. Tetapi, selaku manusia yang berfikiran sihat (ditambah lagi hidup 22 tahun dizaman Tun yang selalu meminta rakyat memperkasa dan membudayakan ilmu) saya lihat banyak ruang kosong dan jalanraya yang panjang berlingkar-lingkar untuk sampai ke LCCT. Jika LCCT diperbesarkan dengan mempergunakan tanah yang saya sebutkan tadi, maka tidak perlu kita bersusah-payah untuk membina sebuah lagi LCC di Labu, Negeri Sembilan. Tetapi, macam Tun katakan dulu 'Sime Darby is as good as the government', maka siapalah saya selaku rakyat marhaien ini dan biasanya jika bersuara pun akan dikategorikan sebagai 'suara-suara sumbang' sahaja. Dengan ini saya sekali lagi menyambut saranan pembinaan airport baru ini dengan seribu tandatanya (berdukacita dan menyampah) dengan tindak-tanduk 'Ayahanda' Perdana Menteri kita kini, anak-menantunya, kroninya dan segala pencacai/tukang kipasnya dan mendoakan agar ia berjaya dilaksanakan (sesuai dengan kehendak rakyat yang sudah jemu dan jijik dengan pentadbiran BN sekarang ini) supaya kelak ia menjadi 'memorial' kepada keruntuhan sebuah dinasti. Seperkara tentang media kerajaan - saya juga mengucapkan SYABAS kerana sentiasa menyiarkan berita-berita berat sebelah dan teruskanlah siaran anda supaya BN akan tersungkur terus di bumi Malaysia. Mungkinkah pertukaran pucuk pimpinan akan berlaku pada March ini? sama-sama kita tunggu. Kalau saya jadi PakLah saya akan kata: "Saya tidak boleh memilih Datuk Najib kerana dia telah membuatkan BN kalah dua kali berturut-turut di Pulau Pinang dan Terengganu.