AirAsia: “KLIA2 is Low-Cost Carrier Terminal 2 (LCCT2)”

13th Jun 2016

Malaysia-based airline AirAsia has announced this Monday that it will launch a new campaign, promoting the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 (KLIA2) as Low-Cost Carrier Terminal 2 (LCC2).

In a statement about the upcoming campaign, AirAsia Group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said:

As we grow towards becoming the Dubai of Asia, we want the world to know that the best value fares are here in Malaysia. To me KLIA2 doesn’t mean anything. LCCT2, on the other hand, is synonymous with low-cost. It is a brand that we built up together with Malaysia Airports and it shouldn’t go to waste. I urge MAHB to stop denying the fact that it is a low-cost hub.

AirAsia Berhad CEO Aireen Omar commented:

AirAsia Group occupies 97 per cent of operations at LCCT with an average of 37,000 guests daily. Last year, AirAsia Group flew over 2.3 million guests into our main hub in Kuala Lumpur. Additionally, 1.3 million Fly-Thru guests came through Kuala Lumpur. As of May this year, close to 700,000 guests have done the same, including significant traffic from Singapore.

Ms. Aireen continued:

In fact, Singapore-India is one of our top five most popular Fly-Thru pairings. Malaysians used to go to Singapore to catch onward flights. The fact that Singaporeans are now coming here shows the strength of our wide network and we are the Asian low-cost hub.

We are particularly proud to be the largest foreign airline operating into China. As a group, we have carried over 33 million guests to and from China over the past 10 years. In 2015, we carried 1.49 million Chinese guests into Malaysia and are poised to push the envelope even further as we plan to strengthen our flight network between ASEAN and the Republic of China.

She concluded by saying:

In view of the high volume of traffic brought into Kuala Lumpur via the AirAsia Group, we need MAHB to acknowledge the fact that Kuala Lumpur is a true low-cost hub with enormous potential and they need to change their mindset to facilitate the need of a low-cost model and its rapid growth. Don Muang has overtaken KLIA2 as the world’s largest LCC airport as it works closely with their customers to bring traffic. MAHB needs to adapt the same approach for it to be relevant and gain back that recognition for Malaysia.