KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 18): Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) reported a 16.1% year-on-year increase in passenger traffic across its Malaysian and Turkish airport networks in November, reaching 11.2 million passengers compared to 9.6 million in the same month last year.

The international sector experienced robust growth, recording a 21.8% y-o-y increase to six million passengers, driven by factors such as new airline operations, the introduction of new routes, and increased flight frequencies. Domestically, 5.1 million passengers were recorded, representing 85.4% of pre-pandemic (2019) levels, MAHB's bourse filing on Wednesday showed.

In Malaysia, airports under MAHB handled a total of 7.7 million passengers, comprising 4.1 million international and 3.6 million domestic passengers, marking a 15.8% increase compared to November 2023.

The average load factor for November 2024 stood at 78.8%, a 5.4-percentage-point increase, with airline seat capacity at 82.9% of pre-pandemic levels, indicating strong demand and a positive trajectory for air traffic recovery, said MAHB.

MAHB's Turkish operations also demonstrated sustained growth. Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SGIA), despite operating in the traditionally low season of November, registered a 16.6% y-o-y increase in passenger traffic to 3.5 million passengers. This surpasses 2019's passenger levels by 20.7%.

MAHB shares closed unchanged at RM10.64 on Wednesday, resulting in a market capitalisation of RM17.75 billion.