The Malaysian Insight

RETAIL outlets in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and klia2 are hopeful business will pick up in tandem with the rise in domestic travel.

As curbs on international travel remain, retailers in the country’s two busiest airports are gearing up for prolonged hard times that started with the movement-control order in mid-March to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.

With the return of domestic travellers, however, these retailers see some hope.

“We are really happy to see our sales slowly increasing. It has been better since we reopened our food counters after the freeze period from March to June,” said an operation executive of the klia2 food arcade, who identified herself as Ashikin.

“While we tried to offer discounts to drive up sales, we also tried to cut costs, one of which was to reduce maintenance costs. For example, instead of servicing the air-condition units monthly, we opt to service every two months or three months,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Burger King in the low-cost carrier terminal has also seen business gradually increase in recent weeks.

“Since we resumed operating in August, sales have gradually improved, first by 20%, then 30% and now 50%.

“Currently, we have 70 to 120 customers a day. Prior to the MCO, it used to be 200 to 300 customers a day,” said Hanis, who is in charge at the fast-food chain’s klia2 outlet.

The shops have also benefitted from less competition as some businesses have closed down.

“Since we are one of the remaining shops available, customers come to us to get food. So business is growing for us,” said Anitha, assistant manager at a food kiosk, The Queen Xpress in KLIA.

“Just this week, we have two new hires, one of them was an employee at another shop, which has closed down, in the airport.”

Domestic buyers

Retailers said their primary customers are locals, especially domestic visitors from Sabah and Sarawak.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd this month reported that domestic travellers made up 90% of passenger traffic at its airports.

The airport outlets have not resumed operating 24 hours but instead open until the last local flight of the day, which typically arrives at 11pm. 

“There’s a huge change in atmosphere. Previously, the airport was crowded. Since the MCO, seeing people is rare and sometimes the place is empty,” said Shasha, a customer service assistant at jeweller Swarovski.

She said the customers these days are mainly family members sending off their loved ones.

 “We only have one or two phone SIM card sales per day. Locals don’t need to purchase and the international passengers rush off to their quarantine centres,” said Mark, who works at the KLIA Digi booth.

The airport limousine service provider is also feeling the lack of business.

“Now, we sell about 100 limousine tickets daily, compared with 1,000 tickets before the MCO. The international passengers take a bus ride to the quarantine centres,” said Hanafi.

“We wait for half a day to get one customer, and we will wait here patiently so customers recognise that we are another option to e-hailing,” said the 35-year-old driver.

Going online

To support the retail businesses in its airports, MAHB last week launched e-commerce platform, shopMYairports to allow the retailers to sell online and attract a wider range of customers.

MAHB aims for the platform to account for at least 10% of total airport retail sales in the next several years.

“In the previous year, pre-Covid-19, we were doing about RM2.8 billion in sales at all our airports. We target to reach 10% of the figure or roughly RM280 million in the next two to three years.

“Of course, the figure is subject to recovery of passenger traffic itself,” group CEO Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh told reporters at the launch.

Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong, who was also present, said despite the sign of improvement on passenger traffic movements, it will be some time before numbers go up to pre-Covid-19 levels.

He said the shopMYairports will provide retailers with sustainable means to recover from the pandemic.

Malaysia’s airports registered 1.4 million passengers in August. MAHB said there was a substantial increase in flight frequencies by airlines at all airports in Malaysia, with KLIA seeing a 33% hike. – September 15, 2020.