MIDF Research said it will maintain a “neutral” outlook on the sector.
PETALING JAYA: The aviation industry in Malaysia has registered near full recovery at 97% as passenger traffic in Malaysia continues to show strong progress.
MIDF Research said 7.7 million passengers were recorded in May, marking the second highest figure year-to-date, just behind February.
In its report, the research house said the strong recovery was due to the public holidays as well as the school holiday season last month.
“Proactive efforts by both local and foreign airlines to expand seat availability further contributed to this recovery,” it added.
Additionally, the international sector has outpaced domestic travel in terms of recovery for the last seven months.
The research house said this could be possible due to the visa-free waiver.
“Last month, international sector growth was driven by AirAsia resuming flights from KL International Airport (KLIA) to Bhubaneswar, India and China Eastern Airlines flying to Wuhan, China.
“AirAsia also launched new routes from Kuala Lumpur to Ahmedabad, India, and Juneyao Air began flights from Penang International Airport to Pudong, China,” it noted.
MIDF Research added Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
(MAHB) is also actively pursuing 15 new carriers to begin operations in the next two years. At the moment, KLIA serves 70 airlines, compared to 69 airlines during the pre-pandemic era.
“Year-to-date, approximately seven additional foreign airlines have commenced services to KLIA. By the year’s end, three more airlines namely British Airways, Thai VietJet and 9 Air are expected to commence operations,” it said.
MAHB has also successfully made substantial investments into efforts like the Airline X-celeration Programme, which offers landing fee waivers, airport office rental rebates, and marketing support.
The airport operator has also allocated some RM3mil for marketing routes between Malaysia and China, whereby the recovery rate for this sector in the first quarter of calendar year 2024 stood at 78%.
Meanwhile, MIDF Research said it will maintain a “neutral” outlook on the sector, while its projections for passenger traffic are unchanged, indicating more than 2% in growth compared with 2019 levels.
It said, however, risks included delays in AirAsia’s full fleet reactivation and disruptions in Boeing aircraft deliveries to local airlines, which could impact these projections.
