Last year , KLIA was the 27th busiest airport globally , recording 39 million passengers arrivals , according to Airport Council International ( ACI ) data . Experts believe it should go up a few notches over the next two years and should be in the top 20 by 2020 . But it would be hard to beat the growth Soekarno Hatta records as last year, 57 millions passengers passed through the airport in Jakarta , beating Changi which chalked up 51 million znd Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi 53 million
A decade ago , both Jakarta and KLIA was not even on the ACI charts . All this indicates the growth is in KLIA and Soekarno Hatta and Malaysia's vibrant economy led by the economic transformation programme is also seeing a lot more foreign investors coming and setting shop in the country.
With more investments , the expatriate community will also increase and it also induces tourism activities , just this week Germany's BASF and Petronas Chemicals Bhd say they will invest US$500 mill ( RM1.5 bil ) to expand their operations at Gebeng , Kuantan to manufacture products for the global flavour and fragrance industry,
All this bodes well for Malaysia , which is moving in the right direction . If the European carriers want a slice of this market , they need to be in Asia and Malaysia stands to benefit from that . For a start , Air France will begin with three weekly flights in Malaysia , next will br Turkish Airlines , follow by Phillippine Airlines .... and the sentiment is not lost on British Airways which is rumoured to be returning to KLIA before 2015 .
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