MAHB Airports records 7.8 % passenger growth in Aug 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) network of airports, including Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (Istanbul SGIA), grew by 7.8 per cent for August 2017 with 11.4 million passenger movements compared with the same month in 2016.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia yesterday, MAHB said, international traffic recorded 5.5 million passengers with a year-on-year increase of 15.8 per cent, while domestic traffic rose by 1.3 per cent to 5.9 million passengers.

It said overall aircraft movements increased by 2.6 per cent with international movements improved by 11 per cent, while domestic movements decreased by 2.1 per cent over August 2016.

“On a twelve-month basis, the total MAHB network of airports registered nine per cent growth with 125.7 million passengers, the highest for traffic handled over a 12-month period by the network and the first time passenger movements breached the 125 million mark,” it said.

On the local front, airports in Malaysia registered 8.3 million passengers in August 2017, a 9.3 per cent year-on-year growth over August 2016, it said.

MAHB said the 9.3 per cent growth for August was mainly driven by the international traffic growth, contributed by the haj travel season, the SEA Games Kuala Lumpur 2017, visa relaxation for India and China, competitive fares as well as favourable exchange rate for foreign tourists.

International sector recorded 4.4 million passengers with a 17.3 per cent increase while domestic sector registered 3.9 million passengers, an increase of 1.7 per cent, it said.

MAHB said international traffic for ASEAN destinations grew 15.2 per cent to two million passengers, whereas non-ASEAN traffic posted a 19.1 per cent growth to 2.4 million passengers, with overall aircraft movements improved 4.6 per cent.

“Overall, average load factor was 77 per cent in August 2017, an increase of 2.4 percentage points compared with the same month last year,” it said.

It said KLIA Main Terminal and klia2 recorded growth of 4.4 per cent and 21.4 per cent respectively over August 2016 passenger numbers.

On a last-twelve-month basis, passenger traffic for KLIA Main Terminal registered 28.4 million passengers, an increase of 22.6 per cent while KLIA2 improved 5.7 per cent with 28.9 million passengers over the corresponding period last year, it said. — Bernama