KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) net loss for the first quarter (Q1) ended March 31, 2022 narrowed to RM104.76 million compared to RM221.3 million loss recorded in the same period last year.

Revenue rose to RM570.85 million from RM336.91 million previously, the group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

"Encouraging air traffic recovery at the group’s Turkey operations, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) continued to contribute towards reducing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the group’s earnings.

"Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the Turkey operations reported an increase of 104.1 per cent to RM208.3 million, while the Malaysia and Qatar operations recorded an EBITDA of negative RM24.7 million and positive RM3.3 million, respectively. Net loss for the group in Q1 2022 narrowed by 52.7 per cent to RM104.8 million from RM221.3 million in the corresponding period,” it said.

The group’s network of airports, including Istanbul SGIA, recorded 14.8 million passengers in Q1 2022, a boost from 5.9 million in Q1 2021.

Moving forward, the group is optimistic on seeing significantly improved air traffic performance in 2022.

Istanbul SGIA passenger movements for Q1 2022 registered 6.4 million passengers and is the highest quarterly volume registered since April 2020. Istanbul SGIA’s traffic performance in Q1 2021 was already at 79 per cent of its pre-Covid-19 level for the same period in 2019. The airport was also ranked as the eighth busiest in Europe for passenger movements by Airports Council International Europe.

Meanwhile, MAHB said Malaysia’s passenger traffic movements rose to 8.3 million for the first quarter of 2022, a five-time increase over Q1 2021.

"Malaysia’s Vaccinated Travel Lane with Singapore and Thailand and the resumption of umrah services were some of the earlier initiatives to ease international travel restrictions, contributing to the healthy increase in passenger movements.

"Malaysia’s full relaxation on border restrictions for vaccinated travellers in the second quarter of 2022 led to the daily average of international passengers in May 2022 reaching 33,407 or 20 per cent of May 2019,” it said.

According to the airport operator, the surge in passenger movements across the network of airports signals a clear trajectory towards a recovery.

As borders continue to reopen, the group said it is pivoting towards opening up its vast revenue generating propensity and further growth opportunities, thereby accelerating its return to profitability. — Bernama