Central Airlines latest to operate at KLIA with 3 weekly flights
KUALA LUMPUR: The Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has welcomed its 18th cargo airline, Central Airlines from Shenzhen, China, which will operate three times weekly using the Boeing 737F aircraft.
Central Airlines, also known as Zhongzhou Airlines, is based at the Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said Central Airlines was the third new cargo airline to operate at KLIA this year after Kargo Xpress and GetJet Airlines amid the strong air cargo demand.
MAHB group chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said attracting new airline partners and supporting their growth would strengthen Malaysia’s position as a regional cargo hub, specifically as an e-commerce regional distribution centre.
“For the first half this year, we recorded about 468,400 tonnes in total cargoes, an increase of 22 per cent from the same period last year,” he said yesterday.
Shukrie said MAHB also saw encouraging cargo growth in other airports, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.
The five airports that registered the highest growth were Tawau, Sibu, Limbang, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.
“The growth ranged from 70 to 700 per cent, driven mainly by the higher volume of e-commerce transactions.”
For last month, MAHB’s network of airports recorded a 26 per cent month-on-month increase in total cargo tonnage to about 78,200 tonnes.
Its airports in Malaysia and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Turkey registered an increase of 26 and 47 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, its airports in Malaysia registered only about 187,000 total passenger movements last month following the government’s extension of the nationwide lockdown.
MAHB said it would continue to ensure the highest level of safety at its airports.
Its latest initiative is the setting up of an industry vaccination centre at KLIA earlier this month to facilitate the vaccination of about 22,000 members of the airport community.
To date, 80 per cent of MAHB staff have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.