Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd will take over operations of Sultan Ismail Airport at Senai, in Johor from next month, it said today.

Sats, which is believed to be under the control of businessman Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, plans to develop the airport into a southern regional air cargo hub .

Sats acquired the airport for RM80 million from Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd.

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

"The airport will see one billion ringgit being invested over the next several years as part of efforts to attract major cargo players and airline operators to use Senai as a regional base," Sats said in a statement.

Increased passenger traffic

An interim airfreight facility worth RM13 million is currently being constructed and set to be fully operational by March 2004.

Sats said it expects passenger traffic at Senai Airport to multiply several-fold over the next few months as no-frills carrier AirAsia began its operations at Senai on Oct 22.

AirAsia will shuttle Malaysian and Singapore passengers to several destinations in Malaysia and is expected to fly to holiday destinations such as Bali, Phuket and Bangkok, it said.

Demand for the airline's low fares for Kuala Lumpur to Johor has been overwhelming, especially out of Johor and Singapore, Tony Fernandes, AirAsia chief executive said. - AFP