April 23, 2008
KLIA
I must say that I am very impressed with Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on a stop off to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. As soon as I stepped off the plane and walked into the terminal to a transfer area, I was amazed just how modern and futuristic the place was. It was all glass so you could see out to everywhere. The terminal building is fully air conditioned, comfortable, very spacious with the high roof and is immaculately clean, plenty of amenities at the restrooms area (unlike in Jakarta CGK airport). It also has an extensive range of retail/eating facilities, post office ... although I must say foods and drinks are not cheap. Check-in times are short, and immigration clearance relatively fast. Access between the main terminal and the domestic terminal is by a transit system called the "aerotrain". I rarely had to wait more than two or three minutes to catch the train. Although the food choices in Singapore Changi airport are loads better, being a competitive international airport, I believe KLIA will someday surpass Changi!
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4 comments:
From the architecture, they have the same theme with Hong Kong International Airport, IMHO. This airport is Malaysian government ambitious plan to compete with Changi and they are getting there someday as Changi become more expensive.What about our airport? Well, you now the answer :)
Toni, you're right. KLIA is very similar to structural design to Chep Lap Kok (HKIA). In my opinion HKIA is definitely one of the best in the world. But one has to be very careful when reading the signposting to find the gate which is written in Mandarin first, then English (smaller letters). You also will have a very long walks if you don't know about the train linking between the 2 terminals. When I was on transit in HKIA and only had an hour and a half to find my transfer gate, I was almost fainted when I reached gate 57 or something since I was not aware there's inter-terminal trains. But all in all...it was a pleasant experience though.
What about our CGK airport? Hmmm...I think we have to fire all the useless people from Angkasa Pura and start from scratch. What Malaysian government has done really puts our int'l CGK airport to shame.
It made quite an impression when I arrived there for the first time. Clever, fascinating and even futuristic.
But being my critical self again, I noticed the airport is also a "cold" and rather oversized monument of macho power and ambition.
@Colson: I may have to agree with you on the 'cold' factor. The airport is simply too large. If a passenger arriving in the early hours of the morning it makes one feel as if they are in a ghost town. Just look at my picture above, you could look down halls and see only one or two people. But compared to the embarrassment that was Jakarta CGK International Airport, KLIA is much more better.
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