The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has announced that KLIA’s airspace will be temporarily closed for Malaysia’s Merdeka Day celebration rehearsal and flypast which will be held between 25 to 31 August. During this time, some flights may have to be delayed as the Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP) has made some temporary changes towards the air traffic management to accommodate the event.
This year, in order to control airspace, the Merdeka Day Flypast will include helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft operations in certain areas. This, however, will not affect operations at KLIA as they will proceed with airspace control as usual.
Helicopters will have lateral as well as vertical limits, and will operate from 25 to 29 August for rehearsals and from 30, 11:30 to 12am, to 31 August, 12 to 2:30am, will be the actual event. Helicopter ALPHA operations will have a vertical limit of 1,500 ft while BRAVO will operate at 1,000 ft.
The rehearsal for fixed-wing operations at KLIA will take place from 26 to 28 August, starting from 3 to 4am, while on 29 August, it will take place from 12:45 to 1:45am. The actual event date for these operations will be on 31 August, starting from 12:45 to 1:45am. Operations CHARLIE will have a vertical limit of 10,000 ft while DELTA operations will have a vertical limit of 4,000 to 7,000 ft.
We should mention that the Sultan Abdul Aziz Aiport, formerly known as Subang International Airport, will remain operational during these periods, but delays should be anticipated. Additionally, VFR Route 1A (between Port Klang and Tanjung Tuan) and VFR Route 2A (between Sungai Besi and Seremban) will be temporarily suspended.
(Source: Malaysia Airports via Facebook, AIP Supplement via CAAM)
