A leading corporate leader with strong financial background and extensive experience in various fields, he is currently steering
Malaysia Airports to greater heights.
This month, Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin celebrates the coming of age of its flagship KL International Airport (KLIA) and its continued participation in the prestigious 25th World Route Development Forum 2019 (World Routes), an annual event much anticipated by international aviation players and tourism authorities.
I am honoured to witness how KLIA, Malaysia’s leading gateway, which turned 21 years, has evolved to become a strong and modern aviation hub following our relentless efforts to implement the latest technological advancements into our facilities and services apart from expanding our regional and global network connectivity.
Ever mindful of improving our passengers’ seamless travelling experience through better distribution flow, we recently worked with our airline partners at the main terminal to redistribute some rows of the check-in counters and relocated several self check-in kiosks.
Another step forward is our launch of a single token passenger journey initiative powered by facial recognition, big data analytics and the Internet of Things as our “guests” go through our electronic gates. So far, 10 new security body scanners have been installed at KLIA and our other terminal at klia2, with 102 more in place by 2022.
We intend next to enhance the airside transfer between KLIA and klia2 and have recently signed a memorandum of business collaboration with ground handler Pos Aviation to design and develop a virtual platform for this initiative. By December, we target to introduce a passenger reconciliation system at these two terminals, which will have improved security features and an “open gate” concept at the boarding lounges. Plans are also afoot to work with Huawei to implement 5G network coverage at KLIA under our Airports 4.0 transformation journey and digitalisation initiatives.
As part of the anniversary celebration, themed KLIA Turns 21: A Precious Legacy, we have on display the original scale model of the main terminal which has been shown at various architectural and art exhibitions held in museums and galleries worldwide. We are grateful to the Japanese firm Kisho Kurokawa Architect and Associates for gifting it to Malaysia as a tribute to our Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s foresight and vision to develop this airport in Sepang when the airport in Subang had reached its capacity.
While you are at our airports, do enjoy the ambience of colourful banners featuring Hibiscus, our national flower, in conjunction with Malaysia Day on 16 September.
On a separate note, our airline marketing team looks forward to its participation at World Routes in Adelaide, Australia later this month to meet the network planners from various airlines exploring new opportunities for connectivity to our airports.
We shall collaborate with Tourism Malaysia at the event to jointly promote our Visit Truly Asia Malaysia 2020 campaign as part of our integrated efforts in boosting the number of travellers into our beloved Malaysia. In addition, we are proud to share that Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, Turkey’s second largest and busiest airport managed by us will also be playing a pivotal role in creating and intensifying greater awareness for the campaign next year.