KLIA ahead of its time but....
KLIA was built at a time when the Malaysian economy was doing its tiger thing in the mid-90's , was aimed at being ready for the Commonwealth Games in 98 and then suffered some bad luck. The economic downturn , SARS , 9/11 , Iraq etc etc have all conspired to make it appear a white elephant.
It has had to offer lower/zero landing fees to attract back some of the airlines who left . Part of the problem is that MAS have so undercut others airfares ( as well as provided one of the great cabin standards in all classes) that they have chased away a lot of the competition that the airport needs.
I have just had the enjoyable experience of working out of KLIA for a few months and was overly impressed by the airport , its infrastructure and the great railway system connecting it to the city. To sweeten the decision to keep the locos at KLIA ( they wanted to go back to Subang ) they are building a dedicated terminal for them.
The only drawback is that ATC is way behind the pace needed for an airport this size to truly develop properly. The gap between takeoffs , even on a VMC day and with a dedicated runway , is very deflating . Approaches are not much better . Wo betide you if you get within 8 miles of the one ahead.
If they can sort the ATC out , then Malaysia have a perfect set-up for the years ahead , when the economy will surely revive , the visitors will return , and they will not have to spend another cent on it , apart from add the odd runway/terminal as needed.
Can't wait to get back.