Kuala Lumpur International Airport 

(KLIA) (Bahasa Malaysia: Lapangan Terbang

Antarabangsa Kuala Lumpur), (IATA: KUL, ICAO: WMKK) is Malaysia's main international
airport and one of the biggest airports in Southeast Asia and worldwide. It is located in Sepang
District of Selangor, approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of Kuala Lumpur city centre and
serves the Greater Klang Valley conurbation.
KLIA is the largest and busiest airport in Malaysia. In 2018, it handled 59,988,409 passengers,
714,669 tonnes of cargo and 399,827 aircraft movements. It is the world's 23rd-busiest airport by
total passenger traffic.
The airport is operated by Malaysia Airports (MAHB) Sepang Sdn Bhd and is the major hub
of Malaysia Airlines, MASkargo, AirAsia, AirAsia X, Malindo Air, flyGlobal, UPS
Airlines and AsiaCargo Express.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Background
o 1.2Current site
o 1.3Grand opening
o 1.4Recent events
o 1.5Inauguration
 2Runways
 3Operations and infrastructure
 4Terminals
o 4.1KLIA
 4.1.1Main Terminal Building
 4.1.2Satellite terminal A
o 4.2KL City Air Terminal
o 4.3KLIA2 (Terminal 2)
 4.3.1Gateway@klia2
o 4.4Former low cost carrier terminal (LCCT)
 5Airlines and destinations
o 5.1Passenger
o 5.2Cargo
 6Statistics
 7Ground transportation
o 7.1Inter-terminal transportation
o 7.2External connections
 7.2.1Rail
o 7.3Taxis and limousine
o 7.4Bus
 8Expansion and developments
o 8.1Plans
o 8.2A380 upgrades
 9References
 10External links

History[edit]
Background[edit]
KLIA main entrance from the side

KLIA Main terminal architecture

The ground breaking ceremony for Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) took place on 1
June 1993 [3] when the government under Mahathir Mohamad decided that the existing Kuala
Lumpur airport, then known as Subang International Airport (now Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport)
could not handle future demand. The construction of the airport was done mainly by a few state
owned construction companies as well as Ekovest Berhad – helmed by Tan Sri Datuk Lim Kang
Hoo. It was created as part of the Multimedia Super Corridor, a grand development plan for
Malaysia. The chief architect who designed the new airport terminal was the Japanese
architect Kisho Kurokawa.[4]
Upon KLIA's completion, Subang Airport's Terminal 1 building was demolished. Malaysia
Airports agreed to redevelop the remaining Terminal 3 to create a specialist airport for turboprop
and charter planes surrounded by a residential area and a business park. The IATA airport
code KUL was transferred from Subang Airport, which currently handles only turboprop aircraft,
general aviation and military aircraft. Subang Airport's IATA code has since been changed
to SZB.

Current site[edit]
The airport's site spans 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) 2,[5] of former agricultural land and is
one of the world's largest airport sites. An ambitious three-phase development plan anticipates
KLIA to have three runways and two terminals each with two satellite terminals.[6] Phase One
involved the construction of the main terminal and one satellite terminal, giving a capacity of 25
million passengers, and two full service runways. The Phase One airport had sixty contact piers,
twenty remote parking bays with eighty aircraft parking positions, four maintenance hangars and
fire stations. Phase Two, designed to increase capacity to 35 million passengers per year is
largely complete. Phase Three is anticipated to increase capacity to 100 million passengers per
year.[6]

Grand opening[edit]
Kuala Lumpur International Airport was officially inaugurated by the 10th Yang di-Pertuan
Agong, Tuanku Ja'afar of Negeri Sembilan, on 27 June 1998 at 20:30 MST, a week ahead
of Hong Kong International Airport and in time for the 1998 Commonwealth Games. The first
domestic arrival was Malaysia Airlines flight MH1263 from Kuantan at 07:10 MST. The first
international arrival was Malaysia Airlines flight MH188 from Malé at 07:30 MST. The first
domestic departure was Malaysia Airlines flight MH1432 to Langkawi at 07:20 MST; the first
international departure was Malaysia Airlines flight MH84 to Beijing at 09:00 MST.[7]
Recent events[edit]
 On 13 February 2017, Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-
un, was assassinated with the nerve agent VX while walking at Kuala Lumpur International
Airport2 (klia2). Two women, who were alleged to have grabbed him to deploy the nerve
agent, were arrested. Kim was traveling under a pseudonym.[8]
 On the night of 21 August 2019, the airport suffered disruption due to network failure, this
has caused disruption to several airport systems such as WiFi connection, Flight Information
Display System, check-in-counters and the baggage handling systems.[9]
Inauguration[edit]

The check-in counters in KLIA Main Terminal before dawn. The roof structure of the airport was inspired
from the traditional Malay architecture.

The Jungle boardwalk, a recreational walk path located at the centre core of the KLIA satellite terminal.

The inauguration of the airport was marked with problems. Aerobridge and bay allocation
systems broke down, queues built up throughout the airport and baggage handling broke down.
Bags were lost and there were waits of over five hours.[10] Most of these issues were remedied
eventually, though baggage handling system was plagued with problems until it was put up for a
complete replacement tender in 2007.
The airport suffered greatly reduced traffic with the general reduction in economic activity brought
about by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, SARS, bird flu epidemic (Avian flu), the financial crisis of
2007–2008, and the swine flu pandemic. 1998 saw a reduction of passenger numbers as some
airlines, including All Nippon Airways (resumed on 1 September 2015), British
Airways (reinstated on 28 May 2015), Lufthansa (resumed between 28 March 2004[11] until 28
February 2016)[12] and Northwest Airlines, terminated their loss-making services to KLIA. KLIA's
first full year of operations in 1999, in its Phase One manifestation (capacity of 25 million
passengers per year), saw only 13.2 million passengers.[13] Passenger numbers eventually
increased to 21.1 million in 2004 and 47 million in 2013[14] — though short of the originally
estimated 25 million passengers per year by 2003.

Runways[edit]
Kuala Lumpur International Airport has three parallel runways (14L/32R, 14R/32L, 15/33[15]), a
first in the region. The aircraft movements on these runways are monitored by two Air Traffic
Control (ATC) Towers; Tower East, and Tower West given the span of the airport. ATC Tower
West standing at 133.8m, is currently the tallest ATC tower in the world.
The current three runway system is capable of handling 78 landings per hour and is expected to
increase to 108 landings per hour once upgrading of the Kuala Lumpur Flight Information Region
is completed in 2019.[16] These runways operate on different departure/arrival modes according to
the air traffic requirements.[17]

Operations and infrastructure[edit]

Main article: Operations and Infrastructure of Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Infrastructure

Passenger terminal buildings

Totals Current

Floor area 737,249 m2 (7,935,680 sq ft)

Handling capacity 70 million passengers per year

Parking bays 114 (aerobridge)

48 (remote)

Main Terminal Building 1 & Contact Pier

Opened 27 June 1998

Floor area 336,000 m2 (3,620,000 sq ft)

Handling capacity 5 million passengers per year

Parking bays 20 (aerobridge)

23 (remote)

Satellite Terminal A

Opened 27 June 1998 

Floor area 143,404 m2 (1,543,590 sq ft)

Handling capacity 20 million passengers per year

Parking bays 26 (aerobridge)

15 (remote)
 klia2

Opened 2 May 2014

Floor area 257,845 m2 (2,775,420 sq ft)

Handling capacity 45 million passengers per year

Parking bays 68 (aerobridge)

10 (remote)

Bunga Raya Complex

Opened 27 June 1998 

Floor area

Handling capacity

Parking bays 1

KLIA features a number of modern design features that assist in the efficient operation of the
airport. It is one of the first Asia Pacific airports to become 100% Bar Coded Boarding
Pass capable.[18] Malaysia Airlines;[19] AirAsia;[20] MASkargo, a cargo airline;[21] and Malaysia
Airports, the Malaysian Airports operator and manager; are headquartered on the property of
KLIA.[22] Malaysia Airlines also operates its Flight Management Building at KLIA.[23]

Terminals[edit]
The airport is part of the KLIA Aeropolis, and is made up of two main terminals; the original
terminal, KLIA Main and the new terminal 2, also known as klia2. KLIA Main was designed by
Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, with an emphasis of natural lighting