Dato’ Iskandar Mizal Mahmood returns to Malaysia Airports after almost 20 years with his wealth of experience gleaned from many multinationals and government linked companies to elevate and transform Malaysia Airports in the fast-changing aviation landscape with new travel norms and innovative technological advances.
This month, he celebrates both KL International Airport (KLIA) and Langkawi International Airport’s recognition this year in The Voice of Customer initiative by Airports International Council (ACI) World for airports that have shown significant efforts to gather passenger feedback during the Covid-19 pandemic. On top of that, KLIA has emerged top in ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey for the fourth quarter of 2021 (4Q21). Optimistic of air travel picking up further this year, the airport operator welcomes news of more vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) taking shape.
It is a happy moment for us when two of our Group’s network of Malaysian airports earned their recognition among over 200 airports in ACI World’s latest The Voice of Customer, which is now in its second year running for having prioritised listening to our customers and passengers’ evolving expectations during the pandemic.
To qualify for The Voice of Customer’s recognition, our airports must have collected three or more quarters of data through ACI World’s ASQ survey which benchmarks passengers’ satisfaction for terminal safety, facilities, services and cleanliness. For the 4Q21, we achieved the full 5.0 score alongside nine other international airports in the 40 million passengers per annum category.
We believe KLIA’s latest achievements will provide passengers with the added assurance of our continuous commitment to improve the airport experience despite the rigorous travel standard operating procedures implemented to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
We are hopeful of the air travel industry’s recovery in light of ongoing talks for the recommended reopening of our borders for quarantine-free travel. Coupled with our neighbours’ efforts such as Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines to attract vaccinated tourists, this augurs well for intra- travel within the ASEAN region.
The recent fully-booked flights by our local carriers such as AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines for the Malaysia-Singapore VTL flights before the Chinese New Year holidays until mid-March speak volumes of the pent-up demand for travel to reunite with our loved ones or reconnect with our business associates. We welcome the restoration of ticket sales for both land and air VTL to full capacity effective February 16 based on the latest Covid-19 assessment and given the green light by the Health Ministry.
With the two countries in advanced talks to expand the VTL by air to Penang and Kota Kinabalu, we are also collaborating with the relevant parties, including the Transport Ministry, to prepare the necessary Covid-19 screening facilities and other related facilities to not only ensure the success of these new initiatives but also the safety of our passengers.
We are also happy that Malaysia and Brunei have agreed in principle to implement an air and land VTL to encourage cross-border movements between them. Earlier talks of expanding the VTL to include Thailand and Indonesia, once they come into fruition, will mean more flight connectivity and frequencies at our airports.
We look forward to the introduction of more VTLs with other countries, which will benefit not only our airports but also the recovery of our nascent economy, which has been projected by the International Monetary Fund to grow at 5.75% this year. We will be working closely with the relevant authorities and parties to make it safe and seamless for our passengers.