More passenger boarding bridges at KKIA next year

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KOTA KINABALU: Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) Terminal 1 will be adding more passenger boarding bridges next year.

There were also plans to reconfigure the immigration counters to address the congestion at the area, said Malaysia Airlines Berhad chairman,Tan Sri Dr Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah.

He said after briefing Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun yesterday that this year, they would be addressing the congestion issues faced at the check-in area and that this includes placing inline bags screening bays which was likely to be implemented this coming November.

It was also mentioned that there was still room for expansion at the KKIA Terminal 1 due to its modular design.

The right-hand side of the airport is capable of catering for 16 million passengers per annum by 2032 and the left-hand side of the airport is capable of catering for 18 million passengers per annum by 2035.

It was also mentioned that since the consolidation of the airport at KKIA Terminal 1, they managed to attract seven new airlines.

Abdul Aziz also mentioned that following the security incident that transpired at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) involving the assissnation of North Korean Kim Jong-nam, stating that they would take more steps to ensure the incident would not happen again.

He also said that measures would be taken to improve security.

He added that the matter was being investigated by the Malaysian police and that MAB would provide its full cooperation.

Abdul Aziz also cited that the untoward incident occurred at the public area and that the airport security was not an issue.

Meanwhile, Masidi said that the tourist arrivals in Sabah last year was the best so far, with a total of 3.4 million tourists, bringing in a tourism receipt of RM7.25 billion.

He said that international tourist arrivals rose by 15.4 per cent (1,128,776) last year, China being the biggest contributor at 51.8 per cent.

He added that Sabah registered a total of 3,427,908 visitor arrivals.