KUALA LUMPUR Malaysia's five-year-old international airport said passenger traffic in 2002 grew 12 percent from the previous year to 16.33 million despite the sluggish global industry.

But the figure was lower than the 18 million targetted by the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) after embarking on a RM10 million marketing campaign last year.

Passenger traffic in 2001 was 14.54 million.

"Despite the industry sluggishness arising out of the September 11 tragedy and the recent Bali incident, KLIA's performance for 2002 has been remarkable," it said in a statement released by Bernama news agency yesterday.

Flag carrier Malaysia Airlines' ongoing network restructuring and the shift of no-frills low-cost AirAsia from the old airport to KLIA in July 2002 contributed to the higher traffic, it added.

Shopping campaign

Built in 1998, the RM10.7 billion showpiece airport has the capacity to handle as many 25 million passengers a year.

The government has been aggressively wooing foreign airlines to KLIA, located south of Kuala Lumpur, to turn the airport into a regional aviation hub and compete with neighbouring Singapore.

Last year, it waived for five years parking and landing fees for new flights launched by carriers to KLIA. The airport has also launched a shopping campaign to woo more travellers.

Thirty-four airlines now operate at the KLIA, including 12 freight carriers. AFP