The airport operator said it recorded 36.1 million passengers for the quarter and had reached 97.7% of pre-pandemic levels.
PETALING JAYA: Passenger movements for Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd
’s (MAHB) network of airports for the third quarter of 2024 (3Q24) have continued registering new highs.
In a statement released yesterday, the airport operator said it recorded 36.1 million passengers for the quarter and had reached 97.7% of pre-pandemic levels.
The domestic sector experienced a more modest growth with 17.2 million passengers, reaching 88.9% of 2019 levels, while international passengers surpassed the third quarter of 2019’s levels by 7.4%, hitting 18.9 million passengers.
For domestic passengers, total passenger movements at Malaysian airports for 3Q24 were recorded at 24.8 million, driven by Air India, AirAsia Cambodia, Lucky Air and Qingdao Airlines.
These new airlines saw 197 additional weekly flights compared to 2Q24, backed by the school break that coincided with the public holidays, as well as the Sukan Malaysia sporting events in Sarawak.
“There has been a notable increase in passengers from mainland China following the 30-day visa-free entry extension until December 2025, and for the first time the 457 weekly flight frequencies to China and vice versa exceeded 3Q19 at 24.8%,” the airport operator said.
For India, MAHB said there was a 90% recovery over 2019 levels, indicating a growing latent travel demand from India.
“The commencement of new airlines, including daily frequency of Air India to New Delhi, once weekly frequency of 9 Air to Guiyang and Lucky Air with three weekly frequencies to Lijiang City, partly contributed to international passenger movement growth for China and India,” it said.
Additionally, passenger movements in September were also boosted by AirAsia’s new operations from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Labuan Bajo and Lucknow, as well as from Kota Kinabalu to Manado and Kunming, with three weekly frequencies respectively.
Batik Air Malaysia has also introduced daily flights to Hatyai and Krabi from KLIA, while Malaysia Airlines commenced Da Nang with daily flights.
As for the Singaporean low-cost airline, Scoot welcomed Scoot Tiger with daily flights from Sept 1, 2024, thus contributing to the double-digit growth of 24.9% for international passenger movements compared to September 2023.
Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SGIA) had recorded 11.3 million passengers for the quarter under review, a double-digit increase of 12% compared to the same corresponding period in 2019.
The airport operator said the growth was driven by international passenger movements with 1.9 million recorded just in the month of September.
“Pegasus Airlines introduced new routes to Isfahan, Iran with twice weekly frequencies and Shiraz with once weekly frequency, as well as to Seville, Spain, with three weekly frequencies, further enhancing the airport’s connectivity and presence in south-western Asia and Europe,” MAHB said.
Where domestic movements are concerned, there were 5.4 million passengers in 3Q24, reflecting a 2.7% increase compared to the previous quarter.
“Istanbul SGIA’s passenger movements are expected to remain strong, driven by the airline’s network expansion growth and seasonal travel demand,” the airport operator said.
Meanwhile, the Airports Council International (ACI) expects the Asia-Pacific region to grow by 13%.
It said the growth will be on the back of significant recovery in China, projected to reach 99% of pre-pandemic levels, along with India that would exceed 2019 levels at 12%.
“Malaysia is also expected to recover to 88% of 2019 levels.
“As for the global passenger numbers, ACI forecast that 2024 would surpass 2019 by 4% and increase by 10% compared to 2023.”
