KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Malaysia's air passenger traffic in the first nine months of 2023 has reached 77.5% of pre-pandemic levels, according to Transport Minister Anthony Loke.

In response to Oscar Ling Chai Yew (PH-Sibu) during the minister’s question time at Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, Loke stated that the recovery was highest for domestic passengers at a rate of 84.4%, followed by Asean passengers at 77.5%, and 63.4% for other international destination passengers.

Notably, in a statement on Oct 20, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) had reported that the total local passenger movement in the third quarter of this year reached 21.7 million, with 3.3 million representing international passengers — marking a 79.3% recovery compared to September 2019 — and 3.6 million domestic passengers, an 86.7% increase from September 2019.

This brings Malaysia's overall performance for September to an impressive 83% compared to the corresponding period in 2019.

Meanwhile, Loke said the recovery in number of flights between January and October 2023 stood at a rate of 74.1%, totaling 381,475 flights compared to 514,896 flights for the same period in 2019.

Loke mentioned that airports in Malaysia have handled a total of 62.8 million passengers up to September 2023.

"Airports in Malaysia handled a total of 109.42 million passengers in 2019, while the number of passengers decreased by 50.1% to 54.8 million in 2022," Loke said.

Loke pointed out that the government aims to increase the number of passengers this year by 87.8 million, which is 80.6% compared to the number of passengers recorded in 2019. The number of passengers is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels next year.

Meanwhile, Loke said that Malaysian airlines' on-time performance for domestic flights dropped to 79% in 3Q2023, compared to 82% in 2Q2023.

Among domestic airlines, SKS Airways achieved the highest on-time performance during the periodwith 95%, followed by MASwings at 93%, Batik Air Malaysia at 82%, FireFly at 77%, Malaysia Airlines at 74%, and AirAsia at 74%.

"Mavcom is in the process of determining performance standards for accuracy achievement and flight cancellation rate for Malaysian airlines. This process is estimated to be completed in the first quarter of 2024," Loke added.

Answering supplemental questions from Ling, Loke said that the government, through Mavcom, is looking for an approach to set a target for on-time performance. Failure to meet this target will lead the government to take action against the airlines.

"However, there are many factors that result in flight delay, such as weather and air traffic management. We need to take all of these into account. But the government will always monitor the airlines to ensure they can manage their flight schedules better," Loke added.

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