By TMR 

Over the last 5 years, the airport has sustained average YoY passenger growth of 26% per annum

Senai International Airport created a new milestone in its history when it chalked past three million passengers in a single year.

On Dec 30, the Johor-based airport celebrated its three millionth passenger for 2017, a new high since its inception in 1974.

The three millionth passenger, Umi Kalsom Roseli, arrived at Senai International Airport at 4.05pm via AirAsia flight AK 6044 from Kuala Lumpur.

She was greeted in a celebration led by Johor State Tourism, Domestic Trade and Consumerism Committee chairman Datuk Tee Siew Kiong, Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd (SATSSB) CEO Md Derick Basir and Tourism Johor director Abdul Malik Ismail.

SATSSB, a member of MMC Corp Bhd, owns and manages the operation of the airport.

SATSSB chairman Datuk Seri Che Khalib Mohamad Noh said the milestone was “truly an achievement” for the airport which was handling about 800,000 passengers annually prior to its acquisition in 2003.

“In 2012, passenger volume per annum was 1.3 million passengers, and over the last five years, we managed to sustain year-on-year (YoY) passenger growth by an ave- rage 26% per annum.

“We forecast that passenger volume for full-year 2017 will grow by 10.6% from 2.8 million in 2016 to 3.1 million passengers in 2017,” he said in a statement.

In the same statement, Md Derick said the growth was mostly driven by the domestic sector, with an increase of 12% against the previous year.

“This can be attributed to the increased capacity created by the introduction of new routes by AirAsia Bhd to Tawau, Langkawi and Kuala Terengganu, and additional flight frequencies to Subang by Malindo Airways Sdn Bhd.

“We believe the growing demand from air travellers via our airport is spurred by Iskandar Malaysia’s rapid development and vibrant economic

activities, in addition to the commitment by our local airlines to mount flights from Senai Airport,” he said.

Looking at it from the state’s perspective, Tee said the achievement by the airport proved that Johor is rapidly progressing and is on the positive track towards the new economic powerhouse in the country.

“The state government is commit-ted to develop Johor as the most viable, progressive and inclusive state, not only in Malaysia, but at a global level.

“I believe that with Johor’s excellent performance, there will be more investors and tourists coming to the state via Senai International Airport, making it a very important aviation hub in the region,” he said.

As Senai International Airport continues to expand its flight offerings, SATSSB said it had invested RM9 million to upgrade the terminal infrastructure in 2017.

Among the measures include the creation of a new international boarding hall, new check-in counters and baggage handling system, installation of new closed-circuit televisions, new flight information display system and additional retail area.

Md Derick said the airport has also improved its retail offerings.

“The introduction of new outlets is set to offer more values and choices to the airport users, which is in line with the airport’s aim to increase international retailing brands to cater to the needs of the international travellers,” he said.

The airport is currently connected to seven international destinations and 11 domestic airports.

The inter- national destinations are Macau, Guangzhou, Kolkata, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Jakarta and Surabaya.

“It has been an amazing year for Senai Airport and we thank the airline partners, government agencies and our stakeholders for their continuous support in achieving this milestone,” he said. — TMR