KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) network of airports recorded 9.6 million passenger movements in November, sustaining a traffic recovery above 83.3 per cent over pre-pandemic levels.
The international sector had 4.9 million passengers with 51 per cent market share since October, MAHB said today.
The domestic sector trailed at 4.6 million passenger movements, reaching 77.6 per cent of 2019 levels.
This was partly due to airlines expansions to the international sector and the unexpected decline in domestic capacity from mid-October.
MAHB noted that these market share signalled traffic recovery amid a challenging backdrop.
On the local front, despite the off-peak travelling season and the minor structural change in the domestic landscape, airports in Malaysia continued to register more than 6.6 million passenger movements last month.
“November international and domestic market share depicts the pre-pandemic performance of 52 per cent and 48 per cent respectively for the second consecutive month.
“International and domestic passenger movements registered 3.4 million and 3.2 million passengers reaching 77.7 per cent and 75.3 per cent respectively.”
The continuous traffic growth in November was partly due the introduction of four new services from KLIA to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with four weekly flights by Batik Air Malaysia, Raja Sansi and Thiruvananthapuram with twice weekly flights by Malaysia Airlines.
Firefly commenced five weekly flights to Don Mueang from Penang International Airport, it said.
The average load factor for the domestic sector in November was above 80 per cent for the second consecutive month, with the airline’s seat capacity offered at 66 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
This indicated that domestic air travel demand is still positive towards recovery.
Meanwhile, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport’s total passenger movements in November continued to register double-growth of 12.4 per cent over November last year, registering 3.0 million passengers and surpassing 2019 levels by 3.5 per cent.
International and domestic passenger movements in both sectors recorded 1.5 million and 1.4 million passengers, an increase of 10.7 per cent and 14.3 per cent over November 2022 respectively.
Source: New Straits Times
