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 welcomed the easing of travel restrictions in more countries, including Malaysia and efforts by both the public and private sector to boost passengers’ confidence in flying. With increasing domestic flights taking off amidst the country’s Movement Control Order’s (MCO) recovery phase from 10 June to 31 August, passenger traffic in Malaysia is expected to gather momentum.
With the opening of interstate travel within Malaysia and the strong support from our three main carriers, Malaysia Airlines, 
AirAsia and Malindo Air, mounting their domestic routes to cater to the market’s needs, we are hopeful to seeing our airports getting busy again. AirAsia, for instance, filed an average of 22 domestic flight movements daily between 10 and 30 June from klia2 to various local destinations which include Alor Setar, Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu, Langkawi, Penang, Bintulu, Kuching, Miri, Sibu, Kota Kinabalu, Labuan, Sandakan and Tawau.
Such efforts are in tandem with the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture’s move to revive domestic tourism following the recent launch of its Cuti-Cuti Malaysia recovery plan. We look forward to the reopening of international borders soon, recognising the pent-up demand to travel after more than three months of being homebound.
Although in-flight social distancing is no longer imposed onboard flights and at the boarding gates, we would like to reiterate that social distancing is still being enforced in the queues at check-in and immigration counters country. Such real-time alerts will be useful alongside other measures such as temperature checks, sanitisation and disinfection of all premises and facilities at our airports. Moving forward, we will continuously be enhancing our efforts in anticipation of the increase in passenger numbers at our airports. Since 19 June, we have relaxed the ruling to allow meeters and greeters to enter the terminal buildings of our airports, having received the green light from the Ministry of Transport.
I would like to reiterate that we have been diligent in taking all necessary safety measures and hygienic processes in order to maintain a safe travelling experience for everyone. This means stringent adherence to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) not only from the Malaysia National Security Council but also to the guidelines issued by globally recognised bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation, International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airport Council International.
I would also like to applaud IATA for coming up with a free online interactive map offering travellers global information on the latest Coronavirus (Covid-19) entry regulations by country. Such real-time alerts will be useful with the gradual easing of travel restrictions globally.
At our Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Turkey, which reopened in June, airlines such as Pegasus Airlines and AnadoluJet have successfully resumed their domestic and international flights.
We have also been supportive of the Selangor state government’s application SELangkah to facilitate contact tracing
of potential Covid-19 cases at KUL (KL International Airport Main Terminal and klia2). Our airport retailers have been encouraged to adopt the use of this app, which complies with the SOPs issued by our federal government.
We are also urging them to go for the full adoption of electronic payments via mobile payment apps such as Boost, Touch ‘n
Go, Grab Pay, mPAY and Samsung Pay to ensure our guests can safely shop with peace of mind at our airports’ retail outlets. As a caring host, we wish everyone safe travels and happy shopping.