Malaysia's new low-cost aviation hub at Kuala Lumpur's international airport is safe for aircraft movement and will open as scheduled next month, a senior minister said.

"We never compromise on the issue of safety. We will begin operations on March 23," Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency yesterday.

Chan was commenting on remarks made by air traffic controllers at Kuala Lumpur airport that safety may be compromised if the low-cost terminal opens as scheduled.

The aviation hub will begin operations just three days ahead of rival Singapore's budget operation, to become Southeast Asia's first dedicated no-frills terminal.

The Singapore terminal at Changi Airport, which has already been completed, is scheduled to be operational on March 26.

The Malaysian government hopes the new facility will help turn Kuala Lumpur's international airport into a regional aviation hub, attracting at least five million passengers in its first year of business.

Work not completed

The president of Malaysia's air traffic control union, Wan Muhaimin Wan Jamil, said he feared the terminal would not be fully equipped by March 23.

"The tender has not even been awarded and it will take 10 months for all work to be completed at the traffic control tower.

"We have to control traffic manually when the day comes and that is going to be taxing on the staff," he was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times newspaper on Saturday.

Wan Muhaimin warned that there was a shortage of air traffic controllers and the burden to operate manually would cause a strain on the staff and safety could be compromised.

Malaysia's own AirAsia is currently the only budget airline that has confirmed it will operate from the new facility.

AirAsia began operations at Subang airport near Kuala Lumpur but moved to KLIA, about 50km south of the capital, in July 2002 in line with the government's plan to make KLIA the main gateway for Malaysia.

The airline, which dominates the crowded Southeast Asian low-cost sector, wants to ride the travel boom not only in its home region of half-a-billion people, but also in the emerging China and India markets.