KUALA LUMPUR: The Terminal 2 of Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SAAS, Subang Airport) will be redeveloped into state-of-the-art hangarages for business aviation, driven by demands from local champions.

In a statement today, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said the local champions who are currently operating in the airport such as Berjaya Air Sdn Bhd and Smooth Route Sdn Bhd would provide an avenue for their further growth.

"Both Berjaya Air and Smooth Route have committed to take up the additional space offered at the new facility.

"As such, the government's approval of the SAAS Regeneration plan in the nearest time is vital to cater to the expansion needs of these industry players," it said.

MAHB said the former Terminal 2 was earmarked to be redeveloped into hangarages to accommodate the relocation and expansion of existing business aviation operator-tenants at the airport.

"The overall tenant relocation exercise or programme will be done in phases to demolish old hangar structures and develop new ones as replacement, of which the redevelopment of the former Terminal 2 into hangarages will serve as the critical first phase of this tenant relocation exercise," MAHB explained.

The new hangars, it said, would be developed to meet the operational needs of the tenants as well as in full compliance with safety, security and authority requirements.

According to MAHB, the redevelopment would also contribute to the overall capacity increase of Subang Aerotech Park by 280 per cent and would further Malaysia's ambition to make the SAAS Airport the preferred aerospace and business aviation hub in Asia Pacific (APAC).

MAHB head of KLIA Aeropolis Randhill Singh said the redevelopment leveraged Malaysia's current position as the fourth largest base for business jet fleet in APAC as well as act as a catalyst in growing the local business aviation market by almost three-fold in the next 10 years.

Hence, the redevelopment plan would strengthen the position of SAAS Airport as the business aviation hub for the region, he added.

-- BERNAMA