SEPANG, Nov 14 – The aerotrain service at Kuala Lumpur International Airport will be halted from 9pm to 7am daily beginning Nov 15 for rectification works.
The 10-hour offline period is to allow for a comprehensive action plan to rectify the troubled service, according to terminal operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd. During the period, shuttle bus services will be deployed between the airport’s main terminal and the satellite buildings.
“Our operations team will try to optimise the gate allocation to the main terminal so that we can minimise the transfer of passengers to satellite,” managing director Datuk Mohd Izani Ghani said at a briefing on the action plan on Friday.
The action plan comprises inspection, testing, alignment and verification for Stage 1 starting on Nov 15, followed by system and vehicle testing in Stage 2 beginning Dec 1 and trial operations starting on Dec 15 as the final Stage 3.
The aerotrain has been plagued by a slew of service disruptions that frustrated passengers and the public since the resumption of its service on July 1 after an upgrade that cost the government some RM456 million.
The driverless system, which shuttles passengers between the main terminal and the satellite building, was suspended for more than two years for the upgrade.
Currently, the aerotrain service has a daily downtime period of five hours — from 12am to 5am — for inspection and rectification works.
Mohd Izani said it is unclear at this juncture how long the temporary daily service halt will last. He also flagged the possibility of a full shutdown, though it would depend on the faults identified during the rectification works.
The rectifications fall within the two-year liability detection period, which ends in June 2027, and costs associated with rectification works will be borne by the contractors, he stressed.
The plan will be carried out by Malaysia Airports together with the aerotrain’s contractors Alstom SA and a joint venture between IJM Corp Bhd (KL:IJM) and Pestec International Bhd (KL:PESTEC).
Malaysia Airports is mindful of Visit Malaysia 2026 and will work closely with the contractors, independent assessors, as well as the Transport Ministry’s Land Public Transport Agency to normalise the service, Mohd Izani added.
