Senai International Airport

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In November of 2003, Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd (SATS) was granted a 30-year concessional license to redevelop the Senai International Airport in Malaysia's Johor state neighbouring Singapore which handled 950,000 passengers a year at the time of the takeover. The contract was acquired for 80 million ringgit (US$21 million) from state-owned Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd., who was the country's sole commercial airport operator and manager prior to this project. Senai had one runway measuring 3,354 metres and a terminal capacity of 2.5 million passengers per annum. It was the third largest in terms of passenger handling after Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Penang. SATS planned to pump in RM1 billion over 10 years to upgrade the cargo and passenger facilities at the airport to transform it into a premier logistics hub. SATS was a Malysian firm whose main owner was believed to be businessman Syed Mokhtar Albukhary. In April 2009, MMC Corporation Berhad completed the acquisition of Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd (SATS). Under this deal, MMC paid RM1.7 billion in cash for SATS, respectively RM580 million for Senai International Airport and RM1.12 billion for SATS’s 2,718 acres of freehold land slated for the development as an Airport City.