An IATA airport code , also known as an IATA location identifier , IATA station code , or simply a location identifier , is a three-letter geocode designating many airports and metropolitan areas around the world, defined by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The characters prominently displayed on baggage tags attached at airport check-in desks are an example of a way these codes are used.
100-540: Kuala Lumpur International Airport ( KLIA ) ( IATA : KUL , ICAO : WMKK ) is the main international airport serving Kuala Lumpur , the capital of Malaysia . It is located in the Sepang District of Selangor , approximately 45 km (28 mi) south of downtown Kuala Lumpur and serves the city's greater conurbation . Kuala Lumpur International Airport is the largest and busiest airport in Malaysia and
200-448: A 12,600 m (136,000 sq ft) duty-free-store area and a nearly 7,200 m (78,000 sq ft) convenience-service area, which includes banks, business centers, Internet services and more. At 45,200 m (487,000 sq ft), the commercial area is twice the size of Beijing's Lufthansa Shopping Center . The terminal provides 72 aerobridges or jetways and is further complemented with remote parking bays that bring
300-546: A floor area of 336,000 m (3,620,000 sq ft). This terminal was used to replace Terminal 1 while the latter was undergoing renovation, cramping all airlines despite being far bigger than Terminal 1. It can handle twenty aircraft at docks connecting directly to the terminal building. Prior to the opening of Terminal 3, all international flights (and the majority of domestic flights) operated from this terminal. This terminal now houses Hainan Airlines (all international, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan flights), SkyTeam with
400-589: A free interterminal shuttle bus between Terminals 1/2 and 3. They operate every 10 minutes from 6 am to 11 pm, and every 30 minutes from 11 pm until 6 am. Terminals 1 and 2 are connected by a lengthy corridor. Beijing Capital International Airport is served by the Capital Airport Express , a dedicated rail link operated as part of the Beijing Subway system. The 30.0 km (18.6 mi) line runs from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 and then to
500-409: A hospital for his injuries. No other people were hurt. Terminal 3 has a 300,000 m (3,200,000 sq ft) transportation hub with a 7,000-car garage. The transportation center has designated traffic lanes for airport buses, taxis, and private vehicles. Travelers bound for T3 can exit their vehicles and enter T3 within five minutes. There is also a station for the Capital Airport Express of
600-470: A natural rainforest in the middle of the terminal, exhibiting the Malaysian rainforests. Under Malaysia Airports Berhad retail optimisation plan, the retail space in satellite terminal A will be further optimised to increase its revenue derived from commercial space rental and a percentage of sale receipts to 50% by year 2010 which currently stands at 35%. Some notable improvements that will be seen after
700-420: A new air traffic control tower (Tower West) were built to support its operation. KLIA T2 has an initial capacity of 45 million passengers per year. The terminal has a built-up area of 257,845 sqm with 68 departure gates, 10 remote stands, 80 aerobridges, includes a retail space of 32,000 sqm to accommodate a total of 220 retail outlets. The main terminal building of KLIA T2 is connected with its satellite piers with
800-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This
900-402: A public walkway that takes about 10–15 minutes to traverse. Terminal 1, with 60,000 m (650,000 sq ft) of space, opened on 1 January 1980, and replaced the smaller existing terminal, which had been in operation since 1958. Terminal 1 was closed for renovation from 1 November 1999 to 20 September 2004, during which all airlines operated from Terminal 2. Featuring 16 gates, it was
1000-605: A second time on 27 June 2008, and became the operational base for all domestic flights operated by the HNA Group including those of Hainan Airlines , Grand China Air and Tianjin Airlines , while all HNA Group's international, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan flights remain in Terminal 2. On May 3, 2020, Terminal 1 temporary closed for reproposing, after Hainan Airlines moved its all domestic routes to Terminal 2. The Terminal 1
1100-462: A single 2,500-meter (8,200 ft) runway on its eastern side, which was extended to 3,200 meters (10,500 ft) in 1966 and 3,800 meters (12,500 ft) in 1982 respectively. Another 3,200-meter (10,500 ft) runway on the west was completed in October 1978. On 1 January 1980, a newer, larger Terminal 1 – green in color – opened, with docks for 10 to 12 aircraft. The terminal was larger than
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#17327717444191200-561: A skybridge, making it the first airport in Asia with such facility. KLIA T2 is certified with Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED). Check-in counters are divided into 8 rows located in 4 islands, each row identified by the letters S – Z. Boarding gates are located in 5 piers, indicated by the letters J and K for domestic flights, and L , P and Q for international flights. Piers J, K and L are connected directly to
1300-406: A state-controlled company. The airport's IATA Airport code , PEK, is based on the city's former romanized name, Peking . The facility covers an area of 3,657 acres (14.8 sq. km) of airport property. Beijing Airport was opened on 1 March 1958. The airport then consisted of one small terminal building, which still stands to this day, apparently for the use of VIPs and charter flights, along with
1400-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow
1500-560: Is a virtual extension of KL International Airport where city check-in services are provided. KL City Air Terminal is recognised by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and carries the IATA designation XKL . Currently there are only three airlines providing city check-in services: Cathay Pacific , Malaysia Airlines and Batik Air Malaysia . Built at a cost of approximately RM4 billion, it
1600-522: Is an extension of the main terminal building with gates marked with prefix A and B for domestic departures, G and H for international flights. The gate allocation is based on operational requirements, although it has been observed that Malaysia Airlines has been operating most of its operations out from the contact pier. The 176,000 square metres (1,890,000 sq ft) satellite building accommodates international flights departing and arriving at KLIA T1. Passengers taking flights parked at
1700-617: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and
1800-507: Is capable of handling 78 landings per hour and was expected to increase to 108 landings per hour once upgrading of the Kuala Lumpur Flight Information Region had been completed in 2019. These runways operate on different departure/arrival modes according to the air traffic requirements. Kuala Lumpur International Airport features a number of modern design features that assist in the efficient operation of
1900-433: Is checked in at any of the 292 counters in Terminal 3C, it can be transferred at a speed of ten meters per second. Hence, a suitcase can travel from T3C to T3E in five minutes. Arriving passengers should be able to begin retrieving their luggage within 4.5 minutes after airplanes are unloaded. Besides X-ray scanners, additional equipment is used to conduct baggage screening. Passengers will be able to check-in their luggage at
2000-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at
2100-620: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,
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#17327717444192200-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU
2300-403: Is largely complete. Phase Three is anticipated to increase capacity to 100 million passengers per year. Kuala Lumpur International Airport was officially inaugurated by the tenth Yang di-Pertuan Agong , Tuanku Ja'afar of Negeri Sembilan , on 27 June 1998 at 20:30 MST . The first domestic arrival was Malaysia Airlines flight MH1263 from Kuantan at 07:10 MST. The first international arrival
2400-1023: Is located on Ground Floor, Block C and KLIA 2 bus terminal is located on Level 1 of the terminal. Ticketing counters are present in the terminals. Buses to the Kuala Lumpur city mainly goes to KL Sentral railway station and Integrated Southern Terminal bus terminal (TBS) , both a prominent transport hub of Kuala Lumpur, as well as various other places like Pudu Sentral, Jalan Ipoh and Jalan Pekeliling Terminal. There are also buses to parts of other Klang Valley cities like Shah Alam (Section 17 terminal), Klang (AEON Bukit Tinggi) as well as Putra Heights LRT station . Popular providers are Aerobus, Airport Coach and Jetbus. Intercity services are available to Penang , Ipoh , Yong Peng (central Johor), Johor Bahru , Malacca and Sitiawan (Perak). Local buses are also available to Nilai and Banting , with SmartSelangor free shuttle available to Banting, Tanjung Sepat and Salak Tinggi . Kuala Lumpur International Airport
2500-607: Is mainly served by tolless KLIA Expressway (Federal Route 26) which is an 11 kilometre direct road from KLIA Interchange of ELITE Expressway (E6) to both KLIA and KLIA2. The expressway also has connection to: The further end of the expressway leads to tolled ELITE Expressway , which connects it to the PLUS expressway networks (E1 North-South Expressway-North , E1 New Klang Valley Expressway and E2 North-South Expressway-South ) which links to most of Klang Valley's major townships and further to Peninsular Malaysia's west coast states, to
2600-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier
2700-560: Is one of the world's largest airport sites. An ambitious three-phase development plan anticipates KLIA to have three runways and two terminals each with two satellite terminals. Phase One involved the construction of the main terminal and one satellite terminal, giving a capacity of 25 million passengers, and two full service runways. The Phase One airport had 60 contact piers, 20 remote parking bays with 80 aircraft parking positions, four maintenance hangars and fire stations. Phase Two, designed to increase capacity to 35 million passengers per year,
2800-569: Is operated by Malaysia Airports (MAHB) Sepang Sdn Bhd and is the major hub of Malaysia Airlines , MASkargo , Batik Air Malaysia , UPS Airlines and World Cargo Airlines , and the major operating base of AirAsia and AirAsia X . The ground breaking ceremony for Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) took place on 1 June 1993 when the government under Mahathir Mohamad decided that the existing Kuala Lumpur airport, then known as Subang International Airport (now Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport ) could not handle future demand. The construction of
2900-853: Is provided on the landside at Gateway@klia2 complex and there are provisions for future airside inter-terminal connection. Gateway@klia2 is an integrated shopping complex that is connected to the main KLIA T2 terminal building. It has a 350,000 square feet of net lettable space spanning over four levels. The transport hub at Gateway@klia2 links klia2 to the KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit service, with allotted pick-up and drop-off areas for coaches, taxis, rented vehicles and private transportation. Gateway@klia2 hosts an 8-storey car park that directly adjoins KLIA T2. There are 6,000 covered parking lots at Blocks A and B and another 5,500 lots at car park D (KLIA2 parking rate). Shuttle buses are available to take
3000-546: Is recognised as a megahub. In 2023, it handled 47.2 million passengers, 980,040 tonnes of cargo and 819,026 aircraft movements, ranking as the 35th-busiest airport by total passenger traffic . As of 2024, Kuala Lumpur International Airport has become the second most connected airport globally, according to the OAG Megahub Index , following London-Heathrow . Other airports in the top five included Tokyo-Haneda , Amsterdam-Schiphol and Seoul-Incheon . The airport
3100-540: Is the busiest of the two international airports serving Beijing , the capital of China (the other one being Beijing Daxing International Airport ). The airport is located 32 km (20 mi) northeast of Beijing's city center, in an exclave of Chaoyang and the surroundings of that exclave in suburban Shunyi . The airport is owned and operated by the Beijing Capital International Airport Company Limited ,
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3200-407: Is the largest purpose-built terminal optimised for low-cost carriers, like AirAsia in response to the exponential growth of low-cost travel in the region. It was built to replace the previous Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT). KLIA T2 began its operations on 2 May 2014, and all flight operations at LCCT were moved to KLIA T2 by 9 May 2014. As part of its development, a third runway (Runway 15/33) and
3300-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained
3400-586: The 1997 Asian financial crisis , September 11 attacks , SARS , bird flu epidemic ( Avian flu ), the financial crisis of 2007–2008 , the 2009 swine flu pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic . The airport is also largely overshadowed by the more internationally renowned Changi Airport located approximately 300 kilometres (190 mi) to the southeast in Singapore , especially in regards to connecting flights by various airlines or Malaysians especially living in
3500-573: The Airbus A380 . KLIA is the only airport in Malaysia that accommodate the landing and take off of the A380. Upgrading works started on 3 April 2006, and was completed by 28 May 2007. Works include the provision of shoulders on both sides of the two existing runways of 15 meters as well as the taxiways, building additional aerobridges at the three departure halls, namely C17, C27 and C37, and enhancing
3600-546: The Beijing Subway . Terminal 3 has 243 elevators, escalators or moving walkways. One of Terminal 3's highlights is the US$ 240 million luggage-transfer systems. The luggage system is equipped with yellow carts, each of which has a code that matches the bar code on every piece of luggage loaded and allows easy and accurate tracking. More than 200 cameras are used to monitor activities in the luggage area. The luggage system can handle 19,200 pieces of luggage per hour. After luggage
3700-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with
3800-657: The European Investment Bank (EIB). The loan was the largest ever granted by the EIB in Asia, and the agreement was signed during the eighth China-EU Summit held in September 2005. Following the 2008 Summer Olympics and the addition of adding the new terminal building, Beijing Capital overtook Tokyo Haneda as the busiest airport in Asia based on scheduled seat capacity. Due to limited capacity of Beijing Capital International Airport, plans were announced for
3900-539: The Move Under One Roof program to co-locate alliance members. Terminal 3 was designed by a consortium of Netherlands Airport Consultants (NACO) , Foster and Partners , Arup and the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (BIAD). Lighting was designed by UK lighting architects Speirs and Major Associates . The budget for the expansion is US$ 3.5 billion. Much larger in size and scale than
4000-709: The Air Support Zone; it ceased operations on 9 May 2014, and all low-cost carrier flights subsequently operated out of KLIA T2. The Aerotrain , currently out of service for repairs, is an automated people mover (APM) that connects the airside of KLIA Main Terminal Building (MTB) and the Satellite Building. Each 250-person capacity train can transport 3,000 passengers per hour in each direction at up to 56 km/h (35 mph). These three-car driverless trains run on elevated rail and under
4100-524: The Main Terminal Building and klia2 station at Gateway@klia2. Kuala Lumpur International Airport has bus terminals in both KLIA and KLIA2 building which serves local buses, city express and intercity express buses to various destination in Kuala Lumpur, Klang Valley and also various parts of Peninsular Malaysia, as well as shuttles between KLIA and KLIA2, terminals to Long Term Car Park and terminals to Mitsui Outlet Park. KLIA bus terminal
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4200-486: The Main Terminal Building and Terminal 2; connecting passengers must clear Malaysian immigration and customs checks before taking a landside transportation option ( Express Rail Link , bus or taxi). Kuala Lumpur International Airport is linked to the KL Sentral transportation hub in the city centre by the 57 km (35 mi) long Express Rail Link (ERL). There are two ERL stations at the airport: KLIA station at
4300-525: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . Beijing Capital International Airport Beijing Capital International Airport ( IATA : PEK , ICAO : ZBAA )
4400-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append
4500-563: The Year 2024 by Centre for Aviation (CAPA) for its exceptional connectivity performance in view of the strong regional competition, commitment to the development of major infrastructure and flexibility in servicing both full-fledged and low-cost airlines. KLIA's Terminal 2 is voted 2024 best terminal for low-cost airlines in Southeast Asia and 7 overall in the world by Skytrax . IATA airport code The assignment of these codes
4600-494: The abstract symbolic architecture by the late Kisho Kurokawa encompasses the Islamic geometry and cutting-edge technology with the tropical rainforest in mind. The KLIA Main Terminal Building (MTB) now also referred to as KLIA Main is located in between the two runways. The floor area of the terminal covers 390,000 m (4,200,000 sq ft) and the building consists of 39 square roof units, which enables future expansion of
4700-402: The airport and the baggage handling breaking down. Bags were lost, and there were waits of over five to seven hours. Most of these issues were remedied eventually, though the baggage handling system was plagued with problems until it was put up for a complete replacement tender in 2007. The airport suffered greatly reduced traffic with the general reduction in economic activity brought about by
4800-485: The airport from several hours to even a day before their flights. The airport will store the luggage in its luggage system and then load it on the correct aircraft. The highest building at the airport, a 98.3 m (323 ft) monitoring tower, stands at the southern end of T3. The roof of T3 is red, the Chinese color for good luck. The terminal's ceilings use white strips for decoration and to indicate directions. Under
4900-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,
5000-537: The airport was done mainly by a few state owned construction companies as well as Ekovest Berhad – helmed by Tan Sri Datuk Lim Kang Hoo . It was created as part of the Multimedia Super Corridor , a grand development plan for Malaysia. The chief architect who designed the new airport terminal was the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa . Upon KLIA's completion, Subang Airport's Terminal 1 building
5100-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after
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#17327717444195200-489: The airport. It is one of the first Asia Pacific airports to become 100% Bar Coded Boarding Pass capable. Malaysia Airlines ; AirAsia ; MASkargo , a cargo airline; and Malaysia Airports , the Malaysian Airports operator and manager; are headquartered on the property of KLIA. Malaysia Airlines also operates its Flight Management Building at KLIA. Kuala Lumpur International Airport comprises two main terminals:
5300-538: The airport. The other two connect to the airport from nearby highways. Beijing Capital Airlines has its headquarters in the Capital Airlines Building ( 首都航空大厦 ; Shǒudū Hángkōng Dàshà ) at the airport. On December 5, 1968, the airport was the site of two fatal accidents in less than 24 hours; On August 27, 2019, an Air China Airbus A330 caught fire while parked at the gate during boarding. All 161 passengers and crew evacuated safely, but
5400-468: The building. There are a total of 216 check-in counters, located in 6 different islands, identified by the letters A – M (excluding I). Multi check-in services are available, designed for the use of all passengers arriving, departing or in transit. Self check in facilities are available in this airport since 2007, and KLM was the first airline to use the Common-use self-service kiosks. The contact pier
5500-543: The city with stops at Sanyuanqiao and Dongzhimen before ending at Beixinqiao . The line opened on 19 July 2008, in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics , while a one-stop extension to Beixinqiao station was opened on 31 December 2021. A one-way trip takes approximately 16–20 minutes. There are 18 bus routes to and from points throughout the city including Xidan , Beijing railway station , Beijing South railway station , Beijing West railway station , Zhongguancun , Fangzhuang and Shangdi. The airport buses run to each of
5600-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share
5700-521: The construction of a new airport at Daxing . The project was given final approval on 13 January 2013. Construction began in late 2014 and was completed in 2019. The new Daxing Airport became the Beijing home of China Eastern Airlines , China Southern Airlines , and China United Airlines , while Air China and Hainan Airlines remained at Capital. Shuttle buses connect the airport's three terminals. Terminal 2 serves Hainan Airlines and SkyTeam with
5800-530: The construction of the new terminal, Bombardier Transportation installed a 2 km (1.2 mi) automated people mover which connects T3C and T3E via T3D in a 2–5-minute one-way trip. The line uses Innovia APM 100 vehicles running at 6-minute intervals at a maximum speed of 55 kilometers per hour (34 mph). New Innovia APM 300 vehicles is being delivered to Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3 People Mover in July 2021. The airport provides
5900-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through
6000-477: The exception of SriLankan Airlines , which uses Terminal 2, SkyTeam member China Airlines , and other domestic and international flights that are not operated from Terminal 2. Star Alliance members LOT Polish Airlines , Scandinavian Airlines , Lufthansa , Austrian Airlines , United Airlines , Air Canada , Turkish Airlines , Thai Airways International , Singapore Airlines , All Nippon Airways , Asiana Airlines , and Air China use Terminal 3-E as part of
6100-431: The exception of China Airlines , Oneworld member SriLankan Airlines , and also other domestic and international flights. Terminal 3, the newest terminal, serves Air China , Star Alliance , Oneworld members with the exception of SriLankan Airlines , plus SkyTeam member China Airlines , and some other domestic and international flights that do not operate from Terminals 2. Terminal 2 opened on 1 November 1999, with
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#17327717444196200-456: The exception of China Airlines , which uses Terminal 3, Oneworld member SriLankan Airlines , Air Koryo , and other domestic and international flights other than those operated by Shanghai Airlines , Star Alliance members and Oneworld members. A gate capable of handling the A380 (gate 21) was also built at the terminal. Star Alliance member Air China also uses Terminal 2 for some of its domestic flights. Terminals 1 and 2 are linked by
6300-415: The existing Terminals 1 and 2. Only two concourses were initially opened, namely, Terminal 3C dedicated for domestic flights and Terminal 3E for international flights. Terminal 3D officially opened on 18 April 2013. The newly opened concourse is temporarily used solely by Air China for some of its domestic flights. At the time of its opening, Terminal 3 was the largest airport passenger terminal building in
6400-473: The extent of the border with Thailand and Singapore. With the slight modification of the masterplan, the future Terminal 2's satellite terminal will be combined into one satellite terminal. The expansion of Terminal 2's satellite terminal will be exactly the same as Terminal 1's (the current Main Terminal) satellite terminal, where initially the satellite terminal will have four arms, and another four arms when
6500-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from
6600-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When
6700-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after
6800-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in
6900-420: The main terminal building, while Piers P and Q are accessible via the skybridge. Piers K and L are physically the same pier and share the same gates, but with waiting lounges on different levels (Level 1A for K and Level 2 for L). For international flights, the access door from Pier K is sealed off, while for domestic flights, the access door from Pier L is sealed off instead. At present, inter-terminal connection
7000-408: The mezzanine lounges for upper deck passengers of the aircraft at the departure halls. Emirates is the only current operator of the Airbus A380 to Kuala Lumpur; its services commenced on 1 January 2012. Malaysia Airlines started its A380 services from Kuala Lumpur to London on 1 July 2012 before retiring the aircraft type at the end of 2018. On 22 November 2024, KLIA was awarded Large Airport of
7100-440: The mini-train. The T3 food-service area is called a "global kitchen", where 72 stores provide food ranging from formal dishes to fast food, from Chinese to Western, and from bakery goods to ice cream. Airport officials have promised that people who buy products at the airport will find the same prices in central Beijing. In addition to food and beverage areas, there is a 16,200 m (174,000 sq ft) domestic retail area,
7200-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from
7300-456: The one built in the 1950s but, by the mid-1990s, its size had become inadequate. The first international flight to China and Beijing Capital International Airport was of Pakistan International Airlines from Islamabad . In late 1999, to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, the airport underwent a new round of expansion. Terminal 2 opened on 1 November of that year and Terminal 1
7400-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which
7500-406: The operational base for the domestic routes of China Southern Airlines and a few other airlines such as XiamenAir and Chongqing Airlines , and was originally planned to handle domestic traffic excluding those to Hong Kong and Macau . With the opening of Terminal 3, the terminal was closed for light refurbishment, and its airlines were moved to Terminal 2 on 20 May 2008. Terminal 1 reopened for
7600-471: The original terminal, Terminal 1, previously known simply as "KLIA"; and the newer Terminal 2 (formerly KLIA2). Terminal 1 was designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa , who also designed the Domestic Terminal (T2) at Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport , with an emphasis of natural lighting within the airport complex. Spanning 38.4m along a grid pattern allowing for future expansions,
7700-456: The originally estimated 25 million passengers per year by 2003. On 9 February 2023, transport minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook announced that the government and MAHB had agreed to rebrand KLIA and klia2 to KLIA Terminal 1 and KLIA Terminal 2 respectively. The costs associated with the rebranding will be fully borne by MAHB. Kuala Lumpur International Airport has three parallel runways ( 14L/32R; 14R/32L; 15/33 ). The current three runway system
7800-444: The other two terminals, Terminal 3 was the largest airport terminal-building complex in the world to be built in a single phase, with 986,000 m (10,610,000 sq ft) in total floor area at its opening. It features a main passenger terminal (Terminal 3C) and two satellite concourses (Terminal 3D and Terminal 3E), all of the five floors above ground and two underground, with the letters "A and B" omitted to avoid confusion with
7900-408: The passengers of Malaysia's "no-frills" airline AirAsia . The terminal was designed and built in accordance to the low cost carrier business model , with limited terminal amenities. As requested by the low-cost airlines, the terminal did not provide aerobridges , nor were there transfer facilities, rail connections, and the other facilities provided in a fully fledged terminal. LCCT was located within
8000-498: The public from the car park D to the terminal. The first capsule transit hotel in Asia, the Capsule by Container Hotel, is also located at Gateway@klia2. Gateway@klia2 is managed by WCT Holdings Berhad. The now defunct 36,000 square metres (390,000 sq ft) low cost carrier terminal (LCCT) was opened at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on 23 March 2006 to cater for the growing number of users of low-cost airlines, especially
8100-543: The refurbishments will be the Jungle Boardwalk which will be the first of its kind in the world and larger mezzanine floor to accommodate F&B outlets and viewing galleries. The gates in Satellite Terminal A have the prefix C . The Satellite A terminal has 27 boarding gates altogether. KL City Air Terminal, sometimes known as Kuala Lumpur City Air Terminal or KL CAT , located at KL Sentral ,
8200-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than
8300-537: The satellite terminal are transported by bus from the main terminal; as of March 2023, the Aerotrain that connects this building with the main terminal has been suspended for repairs and rolling stock replacement. There is a wide array of duty-free shops and prestige brand boutiques in the satellite building. This includes international brands such as Burberry , Harrods , Montblanc , Salvatore Ferragamo , and Hermes . Among all international labels available within
8400-725: The southern parts of the country (e.g. Johor ) preferring to travel via Changi rather than at KLIA. The first year of opening immediately saw reduction of passenger numbers as some airlines, including All Nippon Airways (resumed on 1 September 2015), British Airways (reinstated on 28 May 2015 until 28 March 2021), Lufthansa (resumed between 28 March 2004 until 28 February 2016) and Northwest Airlines , terminated their loss-making services to KLIA. KLIA's first full year of operations in 1999, in its Phase One manifestation (capacity of 25 million passengers per year), saw only 13.2 million passengers. Passenger numbers eventually increased to 21.1 million in 2004 and 47 million in 2013 — though short of
8500-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in
8600-415: The taxiways. The journey takes under two minutes. The Aerotrain operates between three and five-minute intervals between terminal. Automatic train controls manage the operation of the entire Aerotrain system, controlling the speeds, headways, stops and door openings in stations, and integrating functions that enhance the reliability and performance of the system. No airside connection currently exists between
8700-568: The terminal reached its capacity. There is sufficient land and capacity to develop facilities to handle up to 97.5 million passengers a year, four runways by 2020 and two mega-terminals, each linked with satellite terminals. The operator of Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad, had spent about RM135 million (approx) to upgrade facilities at the KL International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang to accommodate
8800-623: The terminal's interior decoration, including a "Menhai", a big copper vat used to store water for fighting fires in the Forbidden City, and the carvings imitating the famous Nine-Dragon Wall . An indoor garden in the T3E waiting area is built in the style of imperial gardens such as the Summer Palace. In T3C, a tunnel landscape of an underground garden has been finished with plants on each side so that passengers can appreciate them inside
8900-492: The terminal, some boutiques such as Harrods are only available in the airport. A number of restaurants and international airlines' lounges are available as well as an Airside Transit Hotel. Within the terminal, wireless internet ( Wi-Fi ) is provided free of charge. The terminal also has prayer rooms, showers and massage service. Various lounge areas are provided, some including children's play areas and movie lounge, broadcasting movie and sport channels. The terminal also features
9000-446: The three terminals and cost up to ¥30 per ride depending on the route. The airport buses accept only paper tickets that are sold at each terminal and certain bus stops in the city. The airport also offers intercity bus services to and from neighboring cities including Tianjin , Qinhuangdao , Baoding , Langfang and Tangshan . The airport is accessible by four expresses tollways , two of which run directly from northeastern Beijing to
9100-1397: The total number of gates to 150. Terminal 3 comes with an additional runway . It increases BCIA's total capacity by 72 million passengers per year to approximately 90 million. The terminal has gates and a nearby runway that can handle the Airbus A380 . This capability was proven when Singapore Airlines briefly offered A380 flights to Beijing in August 2008 during the Summer Olympics. Emirates started its scheduled daily operation to Dubai on 1 August 2010. Singapore Airlines has been using an A380 since June 2014 and increased to two A380s in 2015. China Southern Airlines operated two flights to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, Chongqing Jiangbei Airport, and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport starting from 2011, 2013, and 2015 before retiring them in 2023. Lufthansa has been using these facilities since October 2010 to handle up to five A380 flights per week. Terminal 3 consists of three sub-concourses. Both domestic and international travellers check in at concourse T3C. Gates for domestic flights are in T3C, and gates for domestic flights operated by Air China are also located in concourse T3D. All international, Hong Kong, and Macau, and Taiwan flights are handled in concourse T3E. In conjunction with
9200-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given
9300-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice
9400-466: The white strips, the basic color of the ceiling is orange with light to dark tones indicating where a passenger is inside the building. The roof is light orange in the center. The color deepens as the roof extends to the sides in T3E and goes the other way round in T3C. The roof of T3 has dozens of triangular windows to let in the daylight. Light angles can be adjusted to ensure adequate interior lighting. Many traditional Chinese elements will be employed in
9500-497: The world . Its title as the world's largest passenger terminal was surrendered on 14 October 2008 to Dubai International Airport 's Terminal 3, which has 1,713,000 m (18,440,000 sq ft) of floor space. On 20 July 2013, a man in a wheelchair detonated small homemade explosives in Terminal 3 of the Beijing International Airport. The bomber, reported to be Ji Zhongxing, was injured and taken to
9600-406: Was Malaysia Airlines flight MH188 from Malé at 07:30 MST. The first domestic departure was Malaysia Airlines flight MH1432 to Langkawi at 07:20 MST; the first international departure was Malaysia Airlines flight MH84 to Beijing at 09:00 MST. The inauguration of the airport was marked with numerous problems. The aerobridge and bay allocation systems broke down, with queues building up throughout
9700-486: Was completed in February 2008, in time for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The significant expansion included a rail link to the city center. At its opening, the new Terminal 3 was the largest man-made structure in the world in terms of area covered, and a major landmark in the developing Chinese capital. The expansion was largely funded by a 30 billion yen loan from Japan and a 500-million-euro (US$ 625 million) loan from
9800-457: Was demolished. Malaysia Airports agreed to redevelop the remaining Terminal 3 to create a specialist airport for turboprop and charter planes surrounded by a residential area and a business park. The IATA airport code KUL was transferred from Subang Airport, which currently handles only turboprop aircraft, general aviation and military aircraft. The airport's site spans 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) of former agricultural land and
9900-529: Was reopened on August 1, 2023 as Westwing Satellite Terminal as part of Terminal 2. Construction of Terminal 3 started on 28 March 2004, and the terminal opened in two stages. Trial operations commenced on 29 February 2008, when seven airlines including El Al , Qantas , Qatar Airways , Shandong Airlines and Sichuan Airlines moved into the terminal. Twenty other airlines followed when the terminal became fully operational on 26 March 2008. Currently, it mainly houses Air China , Star Alliance , Oneworld with
10000-431: Was temporarily closed for renovation. 20 September 2004 saw the opening of the renovated Terminal 1 which, at that time, only handled China Southern Airlines ' domestic and international flights from Beijing. Other airlines' domestic and international flights still operated in Terminal 2. More expansion began in 2007. A third runway opened on 29 October 2007, to relieve congestion on the other two runways. Terminal 3 (T3)
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