SEPANG: The Ministry of Transport has recently obtained an approval on the business plan proposal for the redevelopment of Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SAAS) from the Cabinet.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the launching ceremony of the airport development plan as well as the design and details of the regeneration would be revealed within the next one month.
"This is an exciting and important national project. We'll do a launching ceremony to give the full details of the plan very soon by the Prime Minister," he told media after the launch of MYAirline's international flight from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok, Thailand here, today.
The proposal on the redevelopment for SAAS, or widely known as Subang Airport, was submitted by Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd to the Ministry of Transport last month.
Loke said the government would limit the type of aircraft that would operate out of SAAS as well as the type of destinations and slots given to airlines.
"All that is within the control of the government through airport authorities. We'll design the entire airport as a premium airport.""Our objective is to not replace Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA). There is no way to replace KLIA," he said.
Loke added that the capacity for Subang Airport could go up to about eight million passengers per year while KLIA could handle about 50 million passengers annually.
He said SAAS would serve a niche market that focuses on business passengers.
The airport would also become a hub for private jet operations as well as a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hub.
"In return, it'll create many, many high income job opportunities for that area," Loke said.
MYAirline Sdn Bhd chief executive officer, Rayner Teo said the airline is interested to fly out of Subang Airport and has expressed its intention to the Ministry of Transport.
"When the news broke out on the plans for Subang Airport, we've already written to the Minister's office to state our interest to have operations there and we do note the fact that it'll be on a premium level," he said.
In February this year, Loke announced that the SAAS would be redeveloped into a premium city airport and aviation hub after the Cabinet approved plans for its redevelopment, dubbed Subang Airport Regeneration Plan (SARP).
The SARP will see Subang Airport as a regional commercial and MRO aviation hub that will have jet operations again.
Following the opening of KLIA in 1998, SAAS had to gradually slow down the operations of single-aisle aircraft and eventually the planes were disallowed to land or take-off from the terminal