Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is looking to develop a new terminal within the next five years, as KLIA and the adjacent KLIA2 are running at maximum capacity.

MAHB managing director Badlisham Ghazali said as for now, the airport operator would improve baggage handling and other systems to cater to an additional three to five million passengers at the two airports.

“We are looking at the new terminal to be called KLIA3 at the borders of Runway 3 and 4. We have to make a decision and build within the next five years," he told reporters on the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony of Senior Aerospace UPECA's facility in Kuala Lumpur today.

KLIA recorded 58.5 million passengers in 2017, up 11.2 per cent over 2016. The KLIA main terminal handled 10.7 percent more passengers at 28.2 million compared with 2016, while KLIA2 handled 30.3 million passengers, a growth of 11.6 per cent over 2016.

It was reported that the passenger traffic had exceeded KLIA's designed capacity by more than two percent while other airports, such as the Subang Airport, were grappling with over 200 percent utilisation.

- Bernama