Kuala Lumpur Airport Review

kuala lumpur airport main building

kuala lumpur airport view

kuala lumpur airport in malaysia

kuala lumpur airport image

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (IATA: KUL, ICAO: WMKK), or KLIA, is one of Southeast Asia's largest airports. It is also Malaysia's main international airport. It is situated in the Sepang district, in the south of the state of Selangor, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. KLIA was built at a cost of about RM8.5 billion or US$3.5 billion.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport is capable of handling 35 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo a year in its current phase. As of 2006, it was ranked as the 13th busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic, and is the 7th busiest international airport in Asia. The complex handled 26,938,970 passengers in 2007, a 13.0% increase over 2005. In 2008, Kuala Lumpur International Airport handled 667,495 metric tonnes of cargo, which is a 2.2% increase compared to 2007. The increase in cargo volume made Kuala Lumpur International Airport the 28th busiest airport by cargo traffic in 2009.

The airport is operated by Malaysia Airports (MAHB) Sepang Sdn Bhd and is the airline hub or home base for Malaysia Airlines, MASkargo, AirAsia, AirAsia X and jet operations of Firefly.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport serves the Klang Valley Metropolitan Region, Greater Klang Valley, Shah Alam, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and South Perak. With the large catchment area, the airport has become one of the key economic strengths for the nation, where it is well connected via expressways to all parts of Peninsular Malaysia, highly industrialized areas like Shah Alam, and the information and communications technology hub, the Multimedia Super Corridor. It is one of the important components in the economy of Malaysia, as the airport is the main import-export center for the country. Kuala Lumpur International Airport is one of the five airports to be ranked as a 4-star airport by the indepedeny research consultancy firm Skytrax.

The IATA airport code, KUL was inherited from the previous international gateway for Malaysia, Subang International Airport, which currently handles only turboprop aircraft, general aviation and houses a military air base.