Malaysia plans to spend about $1b over the next five years to refurbish and expand its airports as the Southeast Asian country paces infrastructure growth with a surge in passenger traffic, its main airport operator said. “My main terminal may require some upgrade,” said Badlisham Ghazali, managing director of state-controlled Malaysia Airports Holdings, referring to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. “There are other airports that have grown beyond capacity,” including the tourist island of Langkawi, Kota Bharu in the north and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, he said. The upgrade of facilities is likely to benefit regional airlines such as AirAsia Bhd., Southeast Asia’s largest discount carrier, which are expanding their fleets and adding more routes as rising incomes and competitive fares encourage more Asians to fly. Boeing Co. is projecting 100m new passengers annually in the region. AirAsia, the biggest operator of Airbus Group SE’s single-aisle aircraft, signed a deal in July for 100 A321neos to help maintain its industry lead. The proposed investment is a fraction of Hong Kong International Airport’s estimated spending plan of HK$141.5 billion to add a third runway. Singapore’s Changi Airport will have a fourth terminal by 2017 at a cost of S$1.28 billion ($941 million) to handle 16 million passengers annually. The Malaysian government will foot part of the planned $1b investment, with the rest coming from Malaysia Airports, Badlisham said.<br/>
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Canada ranks among the world’s most expensive countries to fly in, due in part to high airport and security fees and limited competition, and service is meager in many small and midsize cities. More than 60% of Canada’s 36m people live within 100 miles of the border, and many head south to fly; about 5m cross the border each year for cheaper flights. “Griping about the cost of air travel in this country is as endemic as bitching about the weather—it’s as if nothing can be done about either of them,” a columnist for Canada’s National Post wrote in June. Some cheaper fares may be en route. Three companies are working to bring the ultralow-cost model to the country, where air travel is dominated by two national airlines, Air Canada and WestJet. But higher operating costs make it hard for new airlines to survive, and the dominant airlines are sure to respond to upstarts offering lower fares. Canada is one of just two nations in the Group of 20 largest economies without any ultralow-cost carriers. Canada also charges higher security fees than most other nations. Canadians are eager for the expanded service and lower fares that ULCCs could provide, said Jim Young, CE of NewLeaf Travel Co., a “virtual” airline in its sixth week of operations, with three Boeing 737s flying to secondary airports in 11 cities nationwide. NewLeaf itself has no air certificates or airplanes. It sells tickets on an established carrier, Flair Airlines—a “wet lease” arrangement that lets NewLeaf escape many of the costly aspects of being an airline. Executives at all three of Canada’s fledgling ULCCs say they aim to underprice Air Canada and WestJet by 25 to 35%. Enerjet is a charter operator that flies oil-and-gas field workers in northern Alberta and does contract work for Air Transat, another Canadian charter carrier. Now it is shifting to the ultra-low-cost model1. Enerjet has been “hunkered down” for more than a year amid the collapse in oil prices and western Canada’s depressed economy, said Darcy Morgan, the company’s chief commercial officer; his brother Tim, a WestJet co-founder, is its CEO. The company leases three Boeing 737-700s and wants to begin a new ULCC tentatively called Flytoo. (It was first called Jet Naked2 for its knack for drawing publicity, but that name was abandoned.) Enerjet is working to raise C$80m and hopes to begin Flytoo service by year’s end.<br/>
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has revived airline inspections and re-issuing Air Operator Certificates (AOCs) to Thai-registered airlines in hopes it will lead to the lifting of the "red flag" raised by the UN aviation regulator. THAI, Bangkok Airways and Thai AirAsia are the first three airlines that have applied for an audit as part of the process, which gives priority to the 28 airlines operating international flights. Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisit said re-issuing AOCs is among issues to be considered by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) when it assesses the country's aviation standards and decides if the "significant safety concerns" tag should be removed. <br/>A lack of qualified staff to issue AOCs is among the concerns. The CAAT has a plan to expedite certificate reissuing. The process is expected to be completed by January. <br/>