KUALA LUMPUR – The Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has improved its ranking further to be the ninth-best airport in the world with regard to service quality in the first quarter of this year for the category of over 40 million passengers per annum (mppa), according to a survey.
The global Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey stated that KLIA achieved a score of 4.99 over 5.00, up from 4.98 in 2020. It was ranked one of the world’s Top 10 airports in the same poll last year.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) group chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said apart from KLIA, the group’s efforts to improve service levels also saw Langkawi International Airport (LGK) named the world’s third-best airport in the two to five mppa category, scoring 4.97 over 5.00 in the survey during the same period.
He said the group continues to leverage the lull period caused by domestic and international travel restrictions to carry out various initiatives to heighten passenger experience and ensure airport readiness when passenger traffic picks up again.
“Although we are facing an extreme contraction of traffic, we are not complacent when it comes to ensuring our facilities and services are at the highest level.”
ASQ benchmarks the world’s best airports in terms of overall passenger satisfaction for cleanliness, facilities, terminal safety and services.
Last month, the total number of passenger movement for MAHB was about two million for its local network of airports and Turkish asset, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport.
Shukrie said the country’s borders remain closed, and movement control orders continue to be imposed as daily Covid-19 cases have been on the rise again.
Nevertheless, total passenger movement for the local network of airports was registered at 630,000 last month – close to an 8.0% increase compared with the preceding month.
Shukrie said this was borne by the pick-up on airline operations for the domestic sector with an increase of 161 weekly flights, or 19% growth, compared with March, sustaining an average load factor of above 57.0%, adding that AirAsia registered the highest average load factor of 60% last month.
“(So far,) 1.89 million people in Malaysia have been vaccinated under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, with the majority being frontliners and senior citizens.
“The vaccine roll-out planned for the year may help pave the way for gradual recovery.” – Bernama, May 19, 2021
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