Business

Saturday October 31, 2009

MAHB sees higher overseas revenue contribution

By YEOW POOI LING


ISTANBUL: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) expects overseas revenue contribution to reach 10% in 10 years versus less than 2% currently, says chairman Tan Sri Dr Aris Othman.

MAHB, which manages and operates 39 airports in Malaysia, has a presence in Delhi, Hyderabad and Istanbul.

The airport operator, together with partners GMR Infrastructure Ltd of India and Limak Group, formed a 20:40:40 consortium that won the bid in March last year for the development of the Istanbul Sabiha Gocken International Airport (ISGIA) new terminal.

While MAHB had been approached by parties in the Middle East and Africa, the viability of projects there required thorough evaluation, especially in terms of risk-rewards, regulatory environment and cutural settings, Aris told Malaysian reporters, who were here in conjunction with the official launch of the ISGIA new terminal today.

“We’re in various levels of negotiations but some (projects) we’ve found to be too risky so we’ve dropped the opportunity,” he said.

The next overseas venture was likely to be in the next two to five years as resources were also limited, Aris said, adding that training of staff for overseas operations would take at least a year.

MAHB reiterated that its main focus remained in Malaysia and most of its assets would still be in domestic businesses.

The new ISGIA comprises a new 180,000 sq m terminal, a four-storey car park building as well as a six-storey hotel.

The cost of the new terminal is about 343 million euros while MAHB’s equity stake of 20% amounts to about RM130mil.

Senior general manager operation services Datuk Azmi Murad said the first commercial flight from the new terminal was scheduled for Nov 9, with the full transfer within a week after that for all the airlines currently operating at the old building.

“Turkish Airlines and two of its subsidiaries will have their flights operating at the new terminal on Nov 9. Based on the performance on that day, we will decide on the transfer of the other airlines,” he said.

Besides being a shareholder, MAHB is also involved in the provision of advisory and consulting services in the airport master plan, detail design study and operational readiness and airport transfer exercise.

Since Sept 26, nine trials had been conducted to test, among others, ground handling, baggage movements, baggage reconciliations, communications and boarding processes.

“Based on the trials of the current facilities, the systems are almost ready. There will be another four or five trials before Nov 9,” Azmi said.

, adding that the new terminal catered to 25 million passengers versus three million at the old building.

Demand has surged significantly for ISGIA as passenger arrivals have almost tripled to 6.1 million this year versus 2.9 million in 2006 with 17 domestic destinations and 51 international routes linked to the airport. Almost 80% of passengers passing through the airport are Europeans. Azmi said assuming the strong growth rate continued, the new ISGIA would reach its full capacity in six to eight years.

The new building is equipped with 96 check-in counters compared with 25 previously, as well as 30 common self check-in kiosks and new aerobridge gates.

Limak-GMR joint-project director Richard Meredith said the new terminal was equipped with seismic isolation bearings manufactured by a well-known specialist, Earthquake Protection Systems Inc of the US. The bearings are capable of withstanding an earthquake of more than seven-magnitude.

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