Arriving in Kuala Lumpur by Flight

Satellite Building, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (30 November, 2003)


I created this page to provide you easy-to-read information for arriving in Kuala Lumpur by flight. There are two main airports, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (airport code: KUL) and the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, often called Subang Airport (airport code: SZB).

Most visitors by flight to Kuala Lumpur arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which now comprises the main airport (KLIA, some times it appears as KLIA1) and the low-cost carrier terminal (KLIA 2). A smaller number arrive at Subang Airport, which is the old Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The area around Subang Airport has been engulfed by the urban sprawl of Kuala Lumpur. It is over an hour away from KLIA and KLIA2. See their location on the map below.

Which airport will you be arriving at?

You have to be clear with airport you will be arriving at, otherwise the arrival information will be misleading. Both KLIA and KLIA2 use the airport code KUL while Subang Airport uses the airport code SZB.

By default, all flights by the national carrier Malaysia Airlines and most of the international airlines (except those specifically named) use KLIA. At KLIA, all airlines dock at the satellite building except Malaysia Airlines, which docks at both the satellite building and main building.

Flights by AirAsia, AirAsia X, Thai AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia, AirAsia Zest, Lion Air, Malindo Air and Tigerair to airport code KUL use KLIA2.

All flights to Kuala Lumpur with airport code SZB use Subang Airport. There aren't that many actually, presently limited to Firefly and Malindo Air.

Based on which airport you will be using, here's the details for your arrival there.

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

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