The Chaos at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT)

DAP MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw calls on the Immigration Department, the Malaysian Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) and AirAsia to solve the congestion at LCCT and to ensure speed, efficiency and safety at LCCT and then at KLIA2.

MAHB looks at KLIA2 very differently from AirAsia. Hence, AirAsia decides reluctantly to move to KLIA2 from LCCT on May 9, not on May 2. To move from one place to another is complicated.

On May 4, 2014, there was congestion and chaos involving about 1,000 passengers at the LCCT. There were complaints.

Immigration Director –General Datuk Aloyah blames AirAsia for the incident as the latter did not shift to KLIA2 on May 2 and many personnel had been moved there. On the other hand, Senior Manager of MAHB Datuk Azmi Murad insists that everything went on as usual and the incident was due the peak hours from 3 pm to 5 pm when many planes landed.

The mystery of the missing MH370 has affected the image of Malaysia. Any signs of incompetence such as unusually long queues at the 17 immigration counters make things even worse.

The Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hisham says that KLIA2 is the biggest airport in the world for low-cost carriers. If KLIA2 including its immigration counters can provide the best service in the world such as speed, efficiency and safety, then the country may recover faster from the bad image.