* KL International Airport is part of the Multimedia Super Corridor. It links Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya and Cyberjaya.
* The KLIA, costing RM9 billion and covering 10,000ha, is 50km from Kuala Lumpur. It has a passenger space of 479,404 sq metres.
* KLIA’s main terminal building alone is equivalent to the size of 72 football fields put together.
* It took 25,000 workers from 52 countries four years to complete the airport.
* KLIA’s design, which marries high-tech vision with Malaysian culture, was the brainchild of acclaimed Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. The airport was also built according to an “airport in the forest, forest in the airport” concept and boasts displays of tropical greenery both inside and outside its buildings.
* Passenger flow through KLIA for both arriving and departing passengers has been designed so that travellers will always be moving downwards from one floor to another. Only transfer passengers may need to travel to higher floors.
* Standing at 132.5m, KLIA’s air traffic control tower is among the tallest in the world.
* More than 1,300 security cameras have been placed within the main terminal building and the Satellite building. The air traffic control tower’s roof has also been equipped with four high-powered cameras, each with a range of three kilometres.
* Baggage screening is handled by a sophisticated, five-tier system that kicks in when passengers check in their luggage at the check-in counters.
* KLIA has a high-speed baggage handling system that includes 12 baggage carousels and 33km of conveyor belts.
* An Aerotrain, or track transit system, ferries passengers to and from the Main Terminal Building and the Satellite building, which services international flights. The Aerotrain runs on a 1.3km- long dedicated track, has a top speed of 56kph and can move 3,870 passengers per hour per direction.
* KLIA has 216 check-in, 146 immigration and 26 customs counters.
* Expanding on its primary function as a transport hub, KLIA offers 86 retail shops and 33 food and beverage outlets.
* LCCT-KLIA has six retail and another six food and beverage outlets.
* All computer-based control and monitoring systems in the airport are linked to the high-tech Total Airport Management System, which integrates all sub-systems for a more coordinated management of airport operations.
* A public viewing gallery that can accommodate 550 people can be found in the Main Terminal Building. From the gallery, visitors can view aircraft landing and taking off, the satellite building, the Aerotrain, aircraft parking stands and the cargo complex.
* KLIA has more than 6,000 covered parking bays in four buildings.
* A 450-room, five-star Pan Pacific Hotel is located near the main terminal building for passengers’ convenience.
* An 80-room hotel (Airside Transit Hotel) can also be found within the Satellite Building for passengers with awkward layover times.
* About 200 volunteer have been recruited to act as “ambassadors” to guide first-time users and passengers during KLIA’s initial period of commercial operations.
* Once KLIA’s second phase is completed, which is scheduled for the year 2008, its handling capacity would be boosted to 35 million passengers a year.
* There are about 400 species of trees planted around KLIA. There’s even an indoor forest with about 4,000 trees and plants and a waterfall.
* KLIA is capable of handling 530 flight arrivals and departures per day.
* KLIA’s Free Commercial Zone is able to handle one million metric tonnes of cargo per annum.
* The Airbus A380 touched down at KLIA on its test flight mission in November 2005.
(c) 2008 New Straits Times. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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