SEPANG: The Transport Ministry will establish a Malaysian Aviation Council to discuss and deliberate matters pertaining the aviation industry.
Its minister Anthony Loke said the setup was important to ensure there were continuous efforts towards improving the country’s aviation industry.
“The council, which will be chaired by me, will gather aviation stakeholders including airlines, airport operators and ground handlers to speak and deliberate on issues related to the aviation industry.
“Matters and issues ranging from airport and airline operations as well as policies will be discussed.
“Previously, the ministry had engaged with the airlines separately and they met only once or twice at most in a year. I don’t think it was a good practice.
“What I would like to see is for all the aviation players and stakeholders in this country to work closely with one another to further create an environment which is conducive for growth particularly in improving operational efficiencies and elevating service levels,” he added.
Loke said the first meeting would be held in November, adding that the council would convene every three months.
“Airport expansion and the financial model for airport expansion will be among the first agenda of the meeting,” he added.
He was met at the groundbreaking of a new processing centre at Kuala Lumpur International (klia2) here.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB)’s initiative to build a dedicated processing centre for departing airline crew at the airport, is aimed at optimising operational processes for the airlines.
The centre which is expected to be completed by mid 2019, will comprise a newly-constructed building for dedicated customs and immigration clearance.
The processing centre is expected to cut short the journey of departing airline crew to the boarding gate, to 10 minutes as compared to the previous travel time of between 15 and 30 minutes.
Loke said the construction of the processing centre for the airlines’ departing crew was a testament to MAHB’s commitment in ensuring the robust growth of the national aviation industry.
Separately, Loke said MAHB would install x-ray machines and scanners at the security lanes of KLIA and klia2, starting the second half of next year.
During a parliament session previously, Kinabatangan member of parliament Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin called for airport scanning machines to be upgraded to better detect passengers who breach security regulations.
He said a more efficient security system would remove the need for security personnel to “grope” passengers suspected of security violations.