KUALA LUMPUR - A FIRE in Malaysia's budget airport terminal delayed flights and forced the evacuation of close to 1,000 passengers and staff yesterday.

The blaze, which started just after 11am, engulfed the building in thick smoke. Officials said firemen rushed to the site and put out the flames within an hour, and operations resumed by 12.30pm. There were no casualties.

The fire broke out in a store room of a duty-free outlet in the international departure hall, said Malaysia Airports Holdings senior general manager Azmi Murad. The cause of the fire is being investigated by the fire department, but it may have been started by a spark from some welding works for the airport's expansion near the outlet, Datuk Azmi told The Straits Times.

The airport is currently being expanded to increase its capacity from 10 million to 15 million passengers yearly.

Mr Azmi added that the fire caused the delay of 11 AirAsia flights.

AirAsia is the anchor tenant and one of three budget carriers at the low-cost carrier terminal (LCCT). The other two airlines are Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific.

A spokesman for AirAsia, which flies seven times daily from the LCCT to Singapore, said at least one flight to Singapore was delayed yesterday. It was scheduled to depart at 12.45pm, but took off only 90 minutes later.

However, because each flight delay could have affected the next flight, he said as many as 32 flights may have been delayed.

The LCCT blaze came just a day after a preview of a proposed new budget terminal in Labu, Negeri Sembilan.

Run privately by AirAsia, the new budget terminal will open in 2011 and cost RM1.6 billion (S$671 million). The carrier said that the current airport was overcrowded and unable to cater to its needs.

But it has come under fire as it is located too far away from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Others criticised AirAsia for building a new budget terminal, when the current one was opened only in 2006.