Monthly Passenger Movements In Malaysia Hit 6 Million Mark For The Second Consecutive Month
Local airports within the Malaysia Airports Group (the Group) registered 6.3 million total passenger traffic movements for the month of January 2023. This is the second consecutive month in which total traffic hit the 6 million mark and it represents 75.0% recovery against pre-pandemic levels. International traffic fared well with 2.8 million passenger movements recorded, similar to levels seen in December 2022.
This 62.5% recovery against 2019 levels was mainly driven by China’s reopening of international borders early last month. The balance of 3.5 million passenger movements were made up of domestic traffic passenger movements recorded were contributed by the festive season and additional flight offerings by MYAirline and AirAsia.
Managing Director of Malaysia Airports, Dato’ Iskandar Mizal Mahmood continues to be optimistic on the recovery of both local and global air travel, “The Group’s traffic performance has been very positive in the last several months. January’s total passenger traffic movements stood at 9.0 million, representing an 81.3% recovery against 2019, with operations in Malaysia contributing close to 70% of the Group’s total. These positive developments were made possible with the continuous resumption of airline operations and flight routes, as well as the introduction of new destinations.”
Last month, airline partners such as MYAirline introduced daily flights to Tawau from KLIA. For international destinations, Batik Air Malaysia (formerly known as Malindo Air) introduced new services from KLIA to Sapporo-Chitose and Osaka via Taipei with three times and four times weekly flights respectively. AirAsia X also introduced new flights from KLIA to Osaka with three times weekly frequencies.
Meanwhile, our Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SAW) in Turkiye recorded 2.8 million passenger movements for January, a 3.6% growth over December 2022. International and domestic passenger movements registered 1.5 million and 1.4 million passengers respectively.