KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has revamped the immigration arrival hall at the second terminal of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (klia2), doubling the size of its original capacity to new processing area of 1,400 sqm.
MAHB said the larger area can accommodate about 1,000 people comfortably at any one time, compared to fewer than 500 previously.
Group chief executive officer Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin said international passengers arriving at klia2 will enjoy a more spacious and comfortable immigration arrival hall, which was opened three days before the new year in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2020 (VM2020).
He said the larger space will also prevent the immigration queue from spilling over into the corridor area that is connected to the arrival gates especially during peak periods.
He said the airport operator would continue strive to deliver improved passenger experience throughout its network of airports.
“As the custodian of the main gateway into the country, our aim is to provide a joyful experience for our guests - more so with VM2020.
“We know that passengers are generally tired upon their arrival and congestion at any of the critical touchpoints would just add to their stress,” he said in a statement today.
Raja Azmi said this was among the feedback MAHB had received and decided to reconfigure the location of the arrival immigration counters to create more space.
“In our bid to live up to our service transformation into a Caring Host, we made this initiative a priority - completing it within a short duration and even relocating our Eraman Duty Free outlet,” he added.
He said MAHB had completed the initiative in record time within seven weeks in time to cater to the super peak travelling period during Christmas and school holidays with the full support from partners, the Department of Immigration KLIA (Immigration) and AirAsia.
“The passenger flow is now smoother and congestion at the area is expected to be a thing of the past,” he said.
With the larger space resulting from the relocation of the counters, we were also able to revamp the queueing system by implementing the snake queue system.
The snake queue provides a more orderly experience as passengers queueing in a common line, as opposed to separate lines for each counter, will be able to go to the next available immigration counter more systematically.
It also takes away the stress of passengers having to choose which queue line to go to and most importantly, while promoting a shorter average wait time.
The newly revamped immigration arrival hall is also more passenger friendly with the introduction of priority lanes for disabled passengers and family with small children.
There are also 10 auto-gates dedicated for Malaysian passport holders to facilitate faster clearance and ease the process.
With full cooperation from Immigration to fully man the 58 counters that have been made available, Malaysia Airports hopes that the queuing time can be reduced even further.