Kitingan calls for new KK airport after runway closure
The STAR president says expanding Kota Kinabalu airport's terminal capacity will not solve its dependence on a single runway.
Keningau MP Jeffrey Kitingan, of the Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) party, has called for a study into the construction of a new international airport in Kota Kinabalu to address the city's reliance on a single runway. This comes after the sole runway at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) was temporarily closed for repairs, disrupting at least 20 flights. The runway reopened after nine hours with final safety checks completed.
Kitingan highlighted that KKIA's annual passenger capacity had already been exceeded in 2019, with the airport handling approximately 9.4 million passengers. He suggested that the Papar-Kimanis area should be considered for the new airport's location, with the final decision to be made following a series of technical, environmental, economic, and accessibility studies.
The federal government has stated in 2024 that it has no plans to build a new airport in Sabah, with transport minister Loke Siew Fook emphasizing the need to optimize the use of KKIA and expand its capacity as the priority.
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- Kitingan calls for new KK airport after runway closure freemalaysiatoday.com
