SEPANG, May 26 — With a record of one million passengers since its opening this month, KLIA2 has proven it is safe for passengers, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

The acting transport minister was responding to reports of purported hazards posed by alleged sunken runways and parking bays in the new budget airport terminal.

He said the daily traffic flow through the airport has been averaging 60,000 passengers a day, adding that authorities expect to hit a total passenger traffic of 24 million within 12 months of operation.

“If it’s so critical, we won’t be looking at that kind of traffic flow,” he told reporters on his first official visit to the budget terminal here.

Hishammuddin, who is also the defence minister, said Ikram Premier Consulting and the International Civil Aviation Organization have been tasked to study the complaints and is expected to come up with a report “as soon as possible”.

The two parties had also evaluated the safety of the airport and the terminal was deemed structurally in compliance with the safety standards, he added.

Last week, airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) insisted that KLIA2’s taxiways are safe for take-off and landing, after concerns were raised over the condition of the new airport’s runways and parking bays.

Stressing that airport safety was at the top of its priority, MAHB had said that no flight operations of any airlines in KLIA2 had been affected.

MAHB explained that it had previously said that the “settlement at localised spots” amounting to less than one per cent of the airport apron was “anticipated due to differential settlement”, giving its assurance that it was however be “well-prepared with a clear and workable engineering solution”.

“We also wish to iterate that there is no impact to flight operations of any airlines as klia2 has ample aircraft parking bays to accommodate the aircraft movements,” it added.