File pic — ART CHEN/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Passenger traffic across Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) airport network grew 15.8% in the first half of 2024 (1H24) compared to 2023.
The recovery rate reached 95.4% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, highlighting robust demand for travel in the post-pandemic era.
The airport operator said international passenger movements in 1H24 showed strong growth, partly due to visa exemptions for China and India, expanded airline routes, more open-jaw tickets, and higher travel during festive seasons.
“The dynamics has supported international traffic to a new height of 34.1 million passengers, marking an outstanding increase of 28.9% compared to 1H23 and succeeding 1H19 levels by 5.3%,” MAHB said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
Meanwhile, domestic passenger movements were equally encouraging, partly driven to new aircraft delivery and utilisation of wide-body fleet, recording 4.1% growth over 1H23 with 30.9 million passengers and reaching 86.5% of 1H19.
“MAHB network of airports achieved a new traffic milestone with 11.5 million passenger movements in June 2024, surpassing February and May 2024 peaks, with 94.6% recovery rate over June 2019 levels.
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“The surge in traffic coincided with the 2024 Hajj season, the week-long Sacrifice Feast national holidays in Turkey, the onset of summer traveling seasons as well as the Eid Al-Adha celebration, Hari Kaamatan and Gawai in East Malaysia,” MAHB said.
International passenger movements in June for the network of airports continued to show buoyancy, with 5.8 million passengers, the highest movements for the year and surpassing June 2019 levels by 3.8% reflecting a stable rebound in international travel.
Similarly, MAHB said the domestic sector registered a new high registering 5.7 million passenger movements, marking a 5.8% increase over June 2023, and reaching 86.6% of June 2019 levels.
On the local front, Malaysia's total passenger movements for June 2024 registered 7.8 million passengers, up 12.2% from June 2023.
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International and domestic passenger movements registered 4.0 million and 3.8 million passengers, reaching 91.4% and 82.9% over June 2019 levels, respectively.
MAHB said Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) total passenger movements registered 3.6 million passengers in June 2024, an 11.6% increase over June 2023 and an 16.5% increase over June 2019.
Both international and domestic passenger movements showed resilience, surpassing 2019 and 2023 levels, and achieving the highest monthly traffic for 2024 to-date.
