BESIDES the spike in Covid-19 cases, the decision to defer the operational launch of the new Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre (KLATCC) in Sepang was made because of low air traffic caused by border closures, Malaysia’s civil aviation authority said.

“Aviation capacity at the moment is 25% and a drastic increase is not expected in the next three months,” said the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).

It was responding to The Malaysian Insight’s report today that another reason the RM650 million KLATCC cannot operate as schedule tomorrow is due to design flaws and poor planning, which have delayed issuance of the building’s Certificate of Completion and Compliance.

In a previous press statement on June 6 CAAM announced that the KLATCC will not begin operations in Sepang on June 17 as originally scheduled, citing the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason.

In its latest response to The Malaysian Insight, CAAM said operations will continue at the KLATCC in Subang, Selangor, with backup operations from the new facility in Sepang using a minimum number of staff.

It said all airlines as well as global aviation authorities have been engaged and informed of the decision.

CAAM added that it would announce a new date for the mass migration of operations to the new facility once the Covid-19 pandemic in the country has subsided. – June 16, 2021.