“The past two years provided the best opportunity to upgrade the airport as there were fewer passengers (due to the various travel restrictions),” he said at a media conference in Penang today.

He also expressed disappointment over the federal government’s decision to halt the expansion project costing over RM1 billion, saying that the airport deserved to be upgraded.

“This is a project which we worked on when we were the federal government but is now being postponed. I’m not sure what’s the reason,” Loke said, referring to the former Pakatan Harapan administration.

The former transport minister added that it was necessary to upgrade the airport because it was already operating at maximum passenger capacity, prior to the pandemic.

In October last year, current transport minister Wee Ka Siong said the project was supposed to start in early 2020 but was delayed due to the Covid-19 restrictions. He added that the project will resume after the aviation industry recovers to pre-Covid-19 levels, which is expected to be in 2025.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd was reported to have allocated about RM1.2 billion to expand the airport to increase the passenger capacity from 6.5 million a year to 12 million.