KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 20): Passenger movements at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (KL:AIRPORT) network of airports recorded 12.3 million passengers in August 2024, the second consecutive month whereby passenger movements exceeded 12 million.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, MAHB stated that passenger movements in August 2024 grew 9.8% year on year (y-o-y) from August 2023. The 12.3 million passengers that went through the airports in Malaysia and Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) in Istanbul reached 96.1% of 2019 levels, the group said.

During the month, total international passenger movements grew at a double-digit rate of 18.5% over August 2023, recording 6.5 million passengers, MAHB stated.

“The credible growth was largely driven by summer travel holidays, new airlines, airline expansion to new routes, and additional weekly frequencies,” it said.

Correspondingly, MAHB’s network of airports recorded 5.8 million passenger movements in August, reaching 87.1% of August 2019 levels.

MAHB stated that passenger movements at its Malaysian airports continued to surpass 8 million passengers for the second consecutive month, with an equal mix of 50:50 between international and domestic traffic.

“The growth was driven by additional flight frequencies and operation of new airlines and routes mainly to and from international sectors. Key international markets, particularly Indonesia, China and India were the top performers contributing to the increase in August traffic,” the airport operator said.

Among the new routes introduced by existing airlines at MAHB airports include between Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Surabaya by Batik Air Malaysia with 14 weekly flights, and to Pekanbaru and Padang, both in the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with daily flights to both destinations.

Super Air Jet, an Indonesian ultra low-cost airline, also began daily flights between KLIA and Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh’s Special Region in Sumatra.

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airlines introduced twice-weekly flights to Balikpapan in Eastern Kalimantan province, while Indonesia AirAsia added thrice-weekly flights to Denpasar, via Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA).

Subang’s Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport also saw daily flights to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) started by Transnusa, another Indonesian airline. It is currently the only airline that flies between Subang and CGK.

AirAsia Cambodia commenced daily flights to Phnom Penh, while its sister airline AirAsia launched thrice-weekly flights to Ningbo, from KLIA and KKIA. Malaysia’s largest airline also launched daily flights to Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut) in India and six weekly flights to Guwahati in the Indian state of Assam.

Malaysia Airlines also started daily flights to the Maldives and Chiang Mai and increased its frequency from KLIA to Amritsar from four weekly flights to daily flights. Meanwhile, AirAsia X commenced twice weekly flights to Medina and doubled its weekly flights to Osaka-Kansai.

Domestic passenger movements at MAHB’s Malaysian airports sustained at the 4 million mark, increasing by 2.3% over August 2023. Domestic movements are now at 84.9% of 2019 levels.

“The growth in domestic passenger movements was supported by Subang Airport’s jet operations with the launch of new services by AirAsia and Firefly to Kota Kinabalu with 14 and seven weekly flights, respectively, AirAsia to Kuching with 14 weekly flights, and Batik Air Malaysia to Penang with daily flights,” stated MAHB.

MAHB’s only foreign airport — Istanbul’s SGIA — recorded 3.9 million passenger movements in August 2024, a 3.7% increase y-o-y. It also exceeded the 2019 levels with a double-digit growth of 12.5%, stated MAHB.

International passenger movements recorded 2.1 million passengers during the month, with a 7.3% growth over August 2023. This exceeded 2019 levels at a growth of 40.5%, the airport group noted.

“The international traffic was mainly driven by Pegasus and Ajet Airlines’ new services to international routes with once-a-week flights to Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and five weekly flights to Cairo, respectively,” stated MAHB.

The airport’s domestic passenger movements registered 1.9 million in August 2024, reaching 92.2% of pre-pandemic levels from 2019.

Read also: Subang Airport's international traffic up 25% m-o-m in August amid resumption of jet operations