SEPANG: The Immigration Department has opened 42 check-in and 54 check-out counters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to deal with a large increase in travellers during the school holiday season.
Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said that a high volume of travellers since Friday has led to long queues at the Security and Immigration counters – but that the newly-opened counters are ensuring smooth operations.
"(The) unusual congestion at the passport counters (is due to the) school holiday (crowd). The number of pilgrims performing umrah has also increased drastically.
“(But) our officers are prepared to deal with the (high traffic during this peak season). We (are currently trying) our best to clear queues within 30 to 40 minutes," he said during a press conference at KLIA on Monday.
Earlier, Mustafar launched the Pre-Read Kiosk service to allow the public to check their current immigration status and ensure that they are not blacklisted from travelling.
Nevertheless, congestion is unavoidable, and certain negligent travellers can make matters worse.
"We open as many counters as we can to address the (congestion), but then blacklisted travellers (who had not checked their status) make the bottleneck worse," he added.
It was reported that KLIA’s Immigration counters were congested at 8am on Monday and that several flights were delayed as a result.
Meanwhile, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) general manager (operations) Mohd Arif Jaafar said that passengers are advised to check in early during the peak travel season to avoid long queues.
He said that MAHB will work with relevant agencies, including airline companies and the Immigration Department, to ensure that operations run smoothly.