Big Changes at KLIA

It’s been a long time since I was here, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). The last time I was flying out of KL, it was on Air Asia, so I was at the decidedly different low cost carrier terminal. The main terminal building is still vast and airy. They’re doing a little bit of work here and there in the main terminal, and a lot of changes are under way in the satellite terminal, where almost half of the shops are closed for remodeling.

Other than that, the 10 year old airport is wearing well. There’s no sign of any big expansion – the master plan obviously has room for a second satellite concourse – but KLIA always seems under-utilized to me anyway. It seems that focus is shifting on development around the airport, creating a proper "aeropolis" similar to Amsterdam’s Schipol airport.

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Air Asia to Start India Service

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur, where yesterday’s the Star newspaper reports that budget carrier Air Asia will start its long planned India service this year. There are some issues to overcome with flag carrier Malaysia Airlines for some major cities, but at worst these issues will delay some service until next year.

Pending the issues on the major cities, Air Asia will start services to secondary cities such as Trivandrum, as well as Sri Lanka and possibly the Maldives.

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Do I Live Here?

Back at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport again. Seems like I just left here, as I just got back from Tioman less than a week ago. I’m headed back to Malaysia now, this time to Kuala Lumpur.

Of course, things haven’t changed much since I was here a couple weeks ago. There are a lot of men in uniform lining the approach road to the airport now, but traffic is flowing smoothly. The number of people at the airport, and in the Thai lounge, seems normal.

It’s been several months since I was in KL, and I have a late evening flight back on Friday, so I’m looking forward to spending some more time there to look around.

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