The Chief Minister of Melaka, Dato Ali Rustam had personally requested budget airline, AirAsia, Dato Tony Fernandes to use aviation facilities at the newly-upgraded Batu Berendam Airport (the previous name) from May 1 of 2009. He said this in his statement to Bernama as "Saya akan panggil Datuk Tony Fernandez datang ke Melaka dalam minggu ini atau minggu depan. Kalau sempat beliau akan menjelaskan di dalam mesyuarat Exco esok supaya Air Asia boleh terbang lebih awal,"katanya lagi." Mohd Ali said he will meet AirAsia chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes soon on the matter.The airport, given a RM131.5 million facelift, can be used from mid-April. It can accommodate Boeing 737 aircraft and Airbus at half-load, he told reporters after inspecting work progress at the airport. Upgrading work by Konsortium Uni-Integrated started in April 2007 to facilitate health tourist arrivals, particularly from Sumatra, who number close to 60,000 a year. The airport will have a 7,000 square metre new terminal and will be equipped with facilities to receive domestic and international flights.
Mohd Ali said facilities for full load landing by Boeing and Airbus are expected to be ready in October, with the runway extended by 400 metres to 2,200 metres from 1,800 metres.

Dato Tony Fernandes, after a meeting with Mohd Ali in August last year, had said for a start AirAsia had identified six destinations which is four in Sumatra and two domestic which also been operated from the airport. Boeing aircraft will be used to land and take off for Palembang, Pekan Baru, Padang and Medan in Sumatra, Penang and Langkawi. Dato Tony Fernandes however has told the state government AirAsia's passenger and cargo planes will use the Batu Berendam Airport only at full load capacity.

I believe Dato's decision is good because to accomondate a satisfaction of its passengers flying with Air Asia. According to Dato Mohd Ali said the airport can handle 1.5 million tourists and rake in RM1 billion revenue when it is fully operational.The Batu Berendam Airport, the country's first health tourism airport, has plans to handle flights from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong, he added. For me, I believe Air Asia is the best airline that have been pursued by the Melaka Goverment instead of other airlines companies in Malaysia. The true concept of producing low fares to everyone is making the Melaka Goverment to believe Air Asia is the right airline to promote tourism to Melaka by encouraging all tourist from all around the world including London and also Australia. The expectation of inaugural from LCCT Terminal from Sepang to Melaka will be around end of this year. An low budget airline had conqured most of the domestic flights in Malaysia and hopes more will enjoy and be happy with Air Asia who makes people's dream to fly in an aeroplane to any part of the world....


Bon Voyage and meet you all in my next post.

Melaka, the 'Historical City' chalks up another history when the airport relocates to a brand new terminal which had start operations since April 2009 . The total project cost was RM131.5 million, funded by the Federal Government and the project management consultant was KLIA Consultancy Services Sdn. Bhd. (KLIA Consult) while the contractor was Uni-Integrated Sdn. Bhd. The project started in April 2007 and completed in April 2009. The airport is now known as Melaka Airport instead of Batu Berendam Airport. Member of the media witnessed the first landing at the airport today when Riau Airlines touches down at 9.15 am and the passengers were greeted and presented souvenirs by Y.A.B. Datuk Seri Hj. Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam, Chief Minister of Melaka. Members of the media were also given a tour of the new terminal. The old terminal ceased operations with the departure of Riau Airlines to Pekan Baru at 10.00am the day before the opening ceremony. Dato' Seri Bashir Ahmad, Managing Director of Malaysia Airports commented that this is Malaysia Airports commitment to further enhance the airport users' experience when using the airport. The new terminal will offer better services and facilities, in line with the increasing expectations of customers. Compared to the old terminal which could only handle 0.3 million passengers per annum, the new terminal can accommodate up to 1.5 million passengers per annum. It has six check-in counters for international and domestic flights. The new terminal has two parking bays capabale of accommodating B737/A320 and four parking bays for guest. The terminal building is capable of handling 300 passengers per peak hour compared to 100 previously. Passenger comfort level has also been elevated, from 20 sq. m to 24.5 sq. m. While the old terminal had only three immigration counters for both arrival and departure, the new terminal has four counters to handle departure and six to handle arrival. Three baggage carousels have been installed to handle baggage for departure and arrival flights. Commercial activities are offered with outlets for F&B and a duty free shop. Car park lots totaling 90 are available for the public, while 20 are allocated for staff, 10 for taxis and 10 for buses. The terminal is configured with 38 CCTV cameras for security monitoring. The public can also enjoy ample seating at the airport with 370 seats available. Currently, Riau Airlines is operating from this airport. The airport operates from 7.00am to 7.00pm daily. The new telephone number for the terminal is 06-3191707.

For the year 2008, Melaka airport processed a total of 23,751 passenger movements, handled 178,618 kg cargo shipments and 700 aircraft movements. The Batu Berendam Airport was officially opened on Oct 1952 by the Duchess of Kent. It is located 10 kilometres from Malacca town. Under the Japanese Occupation during the Second World War, the airport saw little improvement. Further construction only took place under the British from 1948 onwards.






It has the same concept as Kuala Lumpur International Airport which is also been designed by Malaysia Aiports Holdings Berhad ( MAHB ).