By FARA AISYAH / Pic By TMR

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) network of airports, including the Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) in Istanbul, posted a 5.1% year-on-year (YoY) growth in passenger movements or 10.6 million travellers last month.

The international sector recorded 5.1 million passengers with a 5% YoY increase, while the domestic sector saw 5.5 million passengers (5.3% YoY growth) over the same period last year.

Airports in Malaysia, including the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), registered 8.1 million passengers during the month, a 5.4% YoY growth over February 2018.

Local airports’ international sector recorded 4.2 million passengers with a 2.3% YoY increase, while the domestic sector recorded four million passengers, a growth of 8.9% YoY over the same corresponding period last year.

“Malaysia’s overall passenger traffic growth of 5.4% for February 2019 was mainly driven by the Chinese New Year festive season that coincided with the one-week school holidays.

“The first 11 days of February 2019 registered an average double-digit growth of 18.1%. Domestic passenger movements for that same period last year recorded a 27.4% growth,” MAHB said in a statement yesterday.

The airport operator noted that the volume of domestic passengers last month was higher than January 2019, despite having only 28 days in the month.

KLIA passenger traffic recorded a 2.9% YoY increase in February 2019, registering 4.8 million passengers over last year’s period.

The international sector reported 3.5 million passengers with a 1.3% YoY growth, while the domestic sector registered an increase of 7.6% with 1.3 million passengers.

February passenger movements for the Main Terminal of KLIA increased by 3.3%, while KLIA2 recorded a growth of 2.7%.

The 38 Malaysian airports excluding KLIA, which are operated by Malaysia Airports Sdn Bhd, registered a 9.1% YoY growth over February 2019 with 3.3 million passengers.

The international passenger movements grew by 7.5% YoY to 709,000 passengers, while the domestic sector rose 9.5% YoY to 2.6 million passengers over February 2019. 

MAHB said Europe, Northeast Asia, South-East Asia and the Southwest Pacific sectors registered a positive growth in passenger traffic, with 11 airports and 13 airlines registering a double-digit growth for international passengers last month.

Meanwhile, Istanbul’s SGIA passenger movements continued to register a double-digit growth for the international sector.

The 19.5% YoY growth was partly attributed to the shift of some frequencies from domestic to international operations by one of the major carriers, it added.