MALAYSIA Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) registered more than 11 million total passenger movements for July, in an ongoing upward trend of steady traffic growth with both Malaysia and Turkey operations recording a new high of 7.4 million and 3.7 million passenger movements respectively.

International and domestic passenger movements were also recorded at the highest volume for the year-to-date, with 5.4 million international passengers and 5.7 million domestic passengers.

“These represent 89% and 87% respectively of passenger numbers over the same period in 2019, signalling consistent progress towards a full recovery of pre-pandemic volumes,” it said in a statement today.

MAHB said international passenger movements in Malaysia for July increased by almost 10% to 3.5 million passengers from 3.2 million in the preceding month, while domestic passenger movements totalled 3.9 million, up 2.0% from 3.8 million passengers in June.

Local school holidays towards the tail end of July, summer holidays in the Northern Hemisphere, gradual return of China travellers, the return of haj pilgrims, the operation of new airlines, and additional flight frequencies contributed to the growth in the international and domestic sectors.

Last month, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) welcomed the commencement of Salam Air from Muscat with two flights weekly, while AirAsia X introduced flights to Chengdu three times weekly, and MYAirline to Bangkok Don Mueang with seven flights weekly from KLIA.

Batik Air Malaysia had also commenced two new routes, namely twice weekly to Adelaide and four flights weekly to Chengdu. In Sabah and Sarawak, the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) welcomed two new airlines, Loong Air from Xi’An Xianyang with two flights weekly and Shanghai Airlines from Shanghai PuDong with seven flights weekly.

AirAsia resumed Beijing Daxing services with seven flights weekly and Macau with two flights weekly. Batik Air Malaysia resumed its China network with direct flights from KKIA and Langkawi to Chengdu once a week.

Turkey operations

Meanwhile, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SGIA) continued to show strong traffic momentum, surpassing pre-pandemic passenger volumes for three consecutive months.

SGIA recorded 3.7 million total passenger movements in July, a growth of 8.6% from the corresponding month in 2019, and a 13% increase from 3.3 million passengers in the preceding month.

In tandem with the summer holidays, international passenger movements in July recorded the highest volume to-date, registering 1.9 million passengers, up 11% from 1.7 million passengers in June, MAHB said.

Domestic passenger movements recorded 1.8 million passengers, reaching 90% of July 2019 levels, the highest recovery rate for the year, and a 16% growth from 1.6 million passengers in June. – Bernama, August 25, 2023.