Since being shut down for six hours daily since 2006 for runway resurfacing, Kota Kinabalu International Airport (BKI) will once again be operating 24 hours a day starting from May 1st, 2012.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Has said the 792 meter runway extension work which has been planned to house Boeing 747 aircraft, however will not be completed until the end of 2012, Asiaone reported.

“The most critical element now is to get the runway opened for 24 hours and we will be able to do this by May 1,” Mr Seri Kong Cho Has said.

The runway resurfacing works are part of a RM1.4 billion expansion and renovation plan of the Kota Kinabalu Airport.

Additions works include building a new main terminal, a low cost carrier terminal and a new control tower. BKI is the main gateway into the state of Sabah and is the second busiest airport in Malaysia, with around 4 million passengers passing through each year.