Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and largest city in Malaysia, and boasts very high business and tourism ratings that regularly exceed 300 or more points each. A popular city to fly to, but not too popular as a starting hub due to its slightly isolated location in Southeast Asia.

Airport

The default airport here is Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL).

Trivia

In real life, the name "Kuala Lumpur International Airport" had switched airports in 1998. While the new and more modern airport took on the name, IATA and ICAO code and almost all international and domestic flights, the old airport was renamed to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (better known as Subang Airport) and given a new IATA code (SZB). Today, Kuala Lumpur International Airport has become the international gateway into Malaysia while Subang Airport serves primarily domestic routes within Malaysia using only turboprop airliners.

Strategy

Because it is not as popular as cities such as New York or London, using Kuala Lumpur as a main hub is a good option. However, competition can still get intense due to its high ratings. Its distance from other major cities means long ranged aircraft will become a necessity once all the short to medium haul routes are opened. It is recommend that the player acts fast in trying to open as many routes as possible before other players step in, to try to deter other players from monopolising routes from Kuala Lumpur. Cargo routes are generally not a wise option for beginners, since long ranged cargo planes don't exist early in the game thus limiting the number of routes one can open. However, there are still many middle-level cities like Chongqing, Busan, and Manila that can be used to sustain thriving cargo operations.

The city's main airport can attain maximum slot usage within 20 to 30 years from 1960. However, due to its somewhat outlying location in Southeast Asia, a second airport will usually be unnecessary as the maximum slot usage will usually not exceed 1000 (level 4). Hence, building a second airport here is not recommended. Purchase of the main airport, however, is a good idea as it can bring in large profits.

The best passenger planes to similar sized large cities are usually the Airbus A380 or the Boeing 747. For flights to medium sized cities, smaller capacity planes like the Boeing 767, Airbus A300 and the Ilyushin IL-62. Smaller sized planes (e.g. Boeing 737 and Airbus A320) can be flown to other nearby small or medium sized cities to earn a decent profit. For cargo routes, any planes are suitable as long as the satisfaction is high at the time of purchase.