ÿÈÕ´óÈü

This article first appeared in The Edge ÿÈÕ´óÈü Weekly on June 8, 2026 - June 14, 2026

ÿÈÕ´óÈü Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has announced plans to spend RM11 billion in capital expenditure (capex) over the next five years to boost capacity at the nation’s main airports.

While the investment is welcomed, it is imperative that the amount spent for this exercise does not balloon over the years, which could result in the airport operator imposing higher airline and passenger charges.

MAHB should ensure that every sen of that RM11 billion is well spent as airport terminals that are inefficient or underutilised will result in losses.

While the airport operator is no longer a publicly listed entity, many ÿÈÕ´óÈüns still have an interest in the company via Khazanah Nasional Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). Therefore, there must be transparency in how it invests and spends its cash.

ÿÈÕ´óÈü is no stranger to ballooning infrastructure spending, including at airports. The construction of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 2 — then called klia2 — faced years of delays, even as the cost increased exponentially.

Construction of the terminal, with a capacity to handle 30 million passengers per annum, was initially estimated to cost RM2 billion. But the project was scaled up significantly midway through construction and the size of the terminal was increased by 71% to accommodate up to 45 million passengers per annum.

This caused the timeline to be stretched, while the cost doubled to RM4 billion. Then, problems arose as the terminal was being completed, including land settlement issues that affected the runway and buildings.

At the older KLIA Terminal 1, there have been issues with the new aerotrain contract, as well as the carousel upgrades, which have led to unsatisfactory services and passenger complaints.

If managed properly, the exercise will significantly improve the capacity of ÿÈÕ´óÈü’s main aviation gateways, especially Penang International Airport and Kota Kinabalu International Airport, which have been operating at overcapacity. But the spending should be managed judiciously so that the RM11 billion outlay will not be used as a reason to charge higher passenger and airline fees, in order to recoup ballooning investment.

MAHB is an important national infrastructure developer and airport operator. It is not a private company whose expenditures do not involve the public interest.