A review of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) as a competitive South-East Asia hub

Abstract

This paper is aimed to determine the strengths and weaknesses of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) against its competitors in Southeast Asia countries. Due to the geographical and market relevance issues, several airport hubs around KUL are chosen for comparison: Changi International Airport (SIN), Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK). Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis is used to evaluate the comparative situation between the airports in relation to changing industry and market environment. The study discovers some competitive edges for KUL. Nonetheless, the airport still has to be improved to face future challenges and it is under imminent threat of new aircraft technology.