(Petaling Jaya, Monday): The Cabinet on Wednesday should revoke the
decision to close the Subang Airport by the end of the month and extend its use
for domestic flights for another year for the convenience of local air-travellers.
The
shifting of all domestic flights from Subang to the Kuala Lumpur International
Airport in Sepang will be an
increased burden on air travelers, both in time and expenses, and will result in
a further sharp drop in domestic passenger traffic.
Although
the Express Rail Link (ERL) linking the KLIA to Kuala Lumpur has been completed,
it is not only facing teething problems, it is no real answer to the burdens
faced by the domestic air travelers resulting from the closure of the Subang
Airport.
The
previous Sunday, the ERL broke down for two hours in its service from KLIA to
Kualal Lumpur Sentral. Last Thursday night, I cancelled my travel plan to fly to
Penang from Kuala Lumpur when caught in a massive traffic jam to Kuala Lumpur
Sentral to board the ERL as a result of a downpour causing traffic to come to a
standstill in many parts of the city.
The
ERL boasts of a “Fast 28 minute journey”,
“On time, Everytime” and “Frequency every 15 minutes”, but if it
is sited in the centre of frequent massive traffic jams requiring from
half-and-hour to an hour to reach from other parts of KL or Petaling
Jaya, it is not convenient at all for air travelers – least of all, to air
travelers who could use the hassle-free Subang
Airport for domestic flights for the past three years after the opening of KLIA.
For this
reason, the Cabinet should give priority to the interests and convenience of the
domestic air travelers by extending the use of the Subang Airport for another
year until a solution could be found to liberate the Kuala Lumpur Sentral from
being prone to being crippled by frequent
massive traffic jams in the city as a result of downpours and flash-floods.
(17/6/2002)