After 26 years, Subang Airport or Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SAAS) will see the return of single-aisle jet services from June of this year. The terminal is being expanded to cater for more passengers and jet operations.
According to the NST report, MAHB was quoted that expansion works will include building up to five parking bays for narrow-body aircraft and six bays for turboprop planes.
Expansion is part of the Subang Airport Regeneration Plan
This expansion is part of Phase One of the Subang Airport Regeneration Plan (SARP), announced by Transport Minister Anthony Loke in 2023. Along with the planned works, there are also several additional parking bays and remote stands that are currently planned and being discussed with the airport team for the locations.
When the project is completed, Subang Airport will once again be able to handle single-aisle aircraft such as Boeing 737s, Airbus A320 and Embraer jets.
The expansion also includes the upgrade of the terminal so it can handle up to 3 million passengers a year from the current 1.5 million passenger capacity, with the end goal of handling 8 million passengers by SARP’s third phase.
KLIA traffic is safe from cannibalization
When asked, MAHB says Subang Airport will not cannibalize KLIA traffic as the airport’s total capacity is only a fraction of KLIA’s capacity of 75 million passengers a year for both terminals. Additionally, there will be only one runway available, limiting the number of flights that can land or take off at any given time.
Subang airport will be envisioned as a point-to-point focused airport, with no transfer facilities planned. Currently, no airline has confirmed jet services from Subang Airport. Firefly and Batik Air are the main operators at the airport, with smaller airlines, as well as private jets, making up the traffic going in and out of the airport.
Jet operations were moved from Subang Airport to KLIA in 1998 when the new airport was completed.
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