KLIA cops flak for long queues amidst plans to up efficiency

KL international airport (KLIA) is in the hot seat for the long queues and waiting times travellers are facing at the airport. This is not the first time this issue has made headlines this year. Earlier this year, media reported a two-hour waiting time for incoming travellers at KLIA. 

Netizens have taken to their social media pages to express their disappointment. One user said on his Facebook page that these delays could potentially dissuade tourists from visiting Malaysia. Another post was captioned, "The new Government MUST be naïve to only notice this problem now!!!”. In the comments of the aforementioned post, another user claimed that only in Malaysia does it take two hours to clear long queues, implying that immigration departments in other countries are more efficient.  

Meanwhile, in a bid to ramp up the airport's efficiency, the Malaysian government agreed to rebrand Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) to KLIA Terminal 1 and KLIA Terminal 2 respectively. In a press statement, Malaysia Airports managing director, Dato’ Iskandar Mizal Mahmood said the move will allow for more effective marketing of the airport’s services, thus strengthening KL International Airport’s position as a regional hub. 

According to social listening company, CARMA, there was a spike in social conversations mentioning KLIA as a result of long queues. Moreover, sentiment of social conversation was seemingly mostly negative over the past weekend with -39.8% negative sentiment versus 1% positive sentiment.

Additionally, keywords associated with KLIA include "lines", "waiting", and "hours" - which is not the reputation an airport of a capital city wants to have, especially when the country seeks to open up internationally. This is especially more sensitive an issue considering PM Anwar's announcement that Malaysia can be read to receive 23.5 million international tourists in 2025. 

Don't miss: KLIA airports get rebranded

Tourism minister, Datuk Seri Tiong, addressed these long queues in January this year, stating that the queues caused by lacking manpower is not a new issue. Reported by The Star, Minister Tiong stated that Malaysia needs to protect the image of the Malaysian immigration department to ensure that the country remains a competitive destination of choice. He proposed stationing more multilingual staff to ease immigration processes for diverse tourists. Additionally, Minister Tiong also said that the facial recognition system used by the immigrant department should also be used for international visitors to speed up the clearance process.

Not only has Malaysia's airport received flak for its poor service, so has its airlines. 

Earlier this year, MAVCOM instructed all airlines to improve flight disruption management due to the anticipated rise in flight capacity during the Chinese New Year festive season. According to MAVCOM, complaints concerning flight rescheduling jumped tremendously from just eight in the first half of last year to 233 complaints during the same period this year. AirAsia contributed 65% of complaints on flight rescheduling, followed by Malaysia Airlines (30%) and Batik Air (4%). Additionally, MAVCOM also received 1,317 non-actionable complaints, comprising 1,160 complaints with incomplete documentation.

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