Cabinet on Wednesday should revoke the decision to close Subang Airport at the end of the month and extend  its use  for domestic flights for  another year for the convenience of local  air-travellers


Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang

(Petaling Jaya,  Monday)The Cabinet on Wednesday should revoke the decision to close the Subang Airport by the end of the month and extend its use for domestic flights for another year for the convenience of local air-travellers. 

The shifting of all domestic flights from Subang to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang  will be an increased burden on air travelers, both in time and expenses, and will result in a further sharp drop in domestic passenger traffic.  

Although the Express Rail Link (ERL) linking the KLIA to Kuala Lumpur has been completed, it is not only facing teething problems, it is no real answer to the burdens faced by the domestic air travelers resulting from the closure of the Subang Airport.  

The previous Sunday, the ERL broke down for two hours in its service from KLIA to Kualal Lumpur Sentral. Last Thursday night, I cancelled my travel plan to fly to Penang from Kuala Lumpur when caught in a massive traffic jam to Kuala Lumpur Sentral to board the ERL as a result of a downpour causing traffic to come to a standstill in many parts of the city.  

The ERL boasts of a “Fast 28 minute journey”,  “On time, Everytime” and “Frequency every 15 minutes”, but if it is sited in the centre of frequent massive traffic jams requiring from  half-and-hour to an hour to reach from other parts of KL or Petaling Jaya, it is not convenient at all for air travelers – least of all, to air travelers who could use the hassle-free  Subang Airport for domestic flights for the past three years after the opening of KLIA. 

For  this reason, the Cabinet should give priority to the interests and convenience of the domestic air travelers by extending the use of the Subang Airport for another year until a solution could be found to liberate the Kuala Lumpur Sentral from being prone to being crippled by  frequent massive traffic jams in the city as a result of downpours and flash-floods. 

(17/6/2002)


*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman