A corporate leader with diverse experience, he is harnessing the latest technological advances to spur Malaysia Airports to greater heights as a smart aviation regional hub.
This month, Dato’ Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh shares how Malaysia Airports manages to consistently maintain high health and safety standards amidst the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic to not only win gold accolades for several of its local airports but also bags award recognitions for its corporate office and a fully owned subsidiary from the Malaysian Society
for Occupational Safety and Health Standards (MSOSH). Its overseas asset, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISGIA) in Turkey, also made headways in terms of ranking and improved contributions.
As a responsible airport operator, we are committed to ensure safety and health standards are practised across our network of airports nationwide. In MSOSH’s latest annual awards, our Sandakan Airport in Sabah clinched the Gold Class 1 recognition while the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang, Selangor and Kota Bharu Airport in Kelantan each received a Gold Class 2 Award.
Our corporate office also garnered a Gold Class 1 Award whereas Sama-Sama Hotel, sited adjacent to our flagship airport KLIA, received a Silver Award. All these awards involve stringent documentation on the protocols and periodic on-site verification audits by a panel of auditors from various agencies.
The evaluation also covers the readiness of our emergency response plan and among other things, the establishment of the ISO 45001 management system. We have a specially designated unit to primarily look at OSH matters and keep us constantly updated on the latest global trends as our airport guests’ safety is of utmost importance to us.
We are honoured that Eurocontrol, a Brussel-based organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation recently ranked ISGIA as the fifth busiest airport in Europe with an average of almost 500 flights daily. Based on our latest data, ISGIA, which has been sustaining growth momentum since July, registered 1.9 million passenger traffic in October, achieving almost 60% of its October 2019’s 3.2 million passenger traffic. ISGIA also added Salam Air to its growing list of foreign airlines that had resumed operations with its two flights weekly.
In Malaysia, while our operations have been affected by the imposition of the Conditional Movement Control Order in all states except for Perlis, Pahang and Kelantan, thus impacting domestic travel,
we are heartened to have 34 airlines flying to 29 destinations in 23 countries, providing the vital connectivity links for both passengers and cargo.
Nepal Airlines, with its four times weekly frequency, was the latest addition to resume its Kathmandu-Kuala Lumpur on 26 October while our 2.6 million sq ft Cainiao Aeropolis eWTP Hub, formerly known as the KLIA Aeropolis DFTZ Park, commenced operations in early November. We are confident this new e-fulfillment facility will enable us to double our cargo volume to 1.4 million a year by 2029, and notwithstanding the doubling of freighter flight during this period.
Tapping into the synergistic partnership we have with local industry players such as Pos Aviation, MABkargo, GTR, GD Express, Pos Laju and J&T Express, we hope to contribute our part in helping to resuscitate the national economy through more job creation and opening up of ecommerce business opportunities through this MAHB-Cainiao joint-venture project. As we end 2020, which has been unprecedented due to the pandemic, we are eternally committed in providing safe and seamless travel for all our guests.