Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) has inked a deal to sell its Sultan Islamil airport at Senai in Johor to a firm linked to tycoon Syed Mokhtar Albukhary.

MAHB said its subsidiary Malaysia Airports Sdn Bhd would sell the airport to Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd (Sats) for RM80 million in cash.

The deal is scheduled to be completed this month, MAHB said in an announcement to the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange late yesterday.

The price was determined based on the unaudited net book value of assets at the airport of about RM76.78 million ringgit as at end-August 2003, it said.

Last year, the airport's turnover and operational loss were RM8.8 million and RM300,000 respectively.

Senai airport has one runway measuring 3,354 metres and can accommodate 2.5 million passengers yearly, the New Straits Times said.

Southern regional air cargo hub

In 2002, the airport handled 874,278 passengers, 28,759 aircraft movements and 3,849 tonnes in cargo movements.

Sats plans to develop the airport into a southern regional air cargo hub.

Syed Mokhtar controls several key companies including the Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) located near Senai airport.

PTP, which is in direct competition with Singapore, has lured away Denmark's Maersk Sealand and Taiwan's Evergreen Marine from Singapore, causing it to overhaul its shipping strategy and cut handling fees.

Malaysia Airports is the country's sole commercial airport operator and manager and currently operates, manages and maintains 38 airports. - AFP