Private Health Safety Screening Services At KUL Will Help Restore Passenger Confidence In Air Travel
4th March 2021 update:
SEPANG – KL International Airport (IATA Code: KUL) is looking to upgrade its offerings by providing private health safety screening services for passengers to enjoy faster clearance upon arrival at the airport. This move is expected to enhance passenger experience as passengers can undergo the test and wait for their results in comfortable surroundings. This service is also expected to restore passenger confidence in air travel and aid in its gradual recovery.
According to the chairman of Malaysia Airports, Dato’ Seri Diraja Dr. Zambry Abd Kadir, “Adoption of passenger centric improvement initiatives by airport operators is crucial. In December last year, MAVCOM’s forecast is that passenger traffic would rebound in 2021 by between 94.2 percent and 100.3 percent year-on-year. Good public health safety measures will have a positive effect on these numbers. Based on what we have seen at our own airports and others around the world, additional safety measures can result in long queues and waiting times. This will have a detrimental effect on passenger experience, and we are anxious to avoid this.”
Malaysia Airports will be engaging with partners to provide these services and has obtained the necessary approval from the relevant authorities to implement such services. All procedures under this service will be guided by the Ministry of Health to ensure that health safety will remain paramount.
He added that, “As we race to restore confidence in the safety of air travel, cooperation between countries such as a globally-recognised standard of health reporting will also have a positive impact towards the recovery of the aviation industry. The introduction of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Travel Pass is a good example as it will manage and verify testing or vaccine information between governments, airlines, laboratories and travellers. Last month, our national flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines had incorporated this digital health pass into their app. Other carriers that have done so include Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways.”
A critical feature of the IATA Travel Pass is that travellers are in control of their personal information as it stores encrypted data on mobile devices of travellers. No central database or data repository is storing information as the app was built on the highest standards of data protection laws.
Dato’ Seri Dr. Zambry had also expressed his optimism on the gradual but ultimate recovery of the aviation industry, “Governments and industries across the globe are doing their utmost to adjust to the requirements of the new normal so that the global economy can recover. As a public listed company, we are also glad to see we still retain the confidence of the financial markets due to strong company fundamentals.”