KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) recorded 10.17 million passenger movement in October 2023, up 21.6 per cent year-on-year, despite October being generally a low season month for travelling.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the airport operator said international and domestic passenger movements for its network of airports registered 5.1 million and 5.0 million passengers, an increase of 40.3 per cent and 7.0 per cent, respectively, over the same month last year.

It said the October figures had reached more than 87 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels for both international and domestic sectors.

"Passenger movements in Malaysia continued to show steady traffic recovery in tandem with the gradual increase in airline seat capacity as airlines progressively overcome the shortage in fleets due to challenges in the supply chain, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (sector).

"International airlines seat capacity offered in October 2023 increased by 3.3 per cent, which was higher compared with the month before, bringing the international passenger movements to 3.4 million, a growth of 3.6 per cent over September 2023,” it said.

MAHB said the increase in international passenger movements was also supported by new services from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Zhangjiajie Dayong with three weekly flights by Batik Air Malaysia, Kertajati, Indonesia daily flight services by Malaysia Airlines and daily service from Padang by Super Air Jet.

Qatar Airways resumed daily services from Doha-Phuket-Penang, while Thai Airways International commenced a new daily service to Bangkok from Penang International Airport, it said.

As for January-October performance, MAHB said its network handled 98.94 million passengers, reaching 84.7 per cent over the same period in 2019, an indication that traffic continued to move at the right trajectory towards recovery.

It said airports in Malaysia stood at 6.83 million passengers, reaching 79.6 per cent of 2019 levels, and a gain of 25.5 per cent compared with October 2022, driven by the additional 85 weekly flight frequencies from 48 local and foreign airlines.

"The international and domestic sector equally contributed 50 per cent to total passenger movements, registering 3.4 million passengers each, an increase of 60.8 per cent and 3.0 per cent over October 2022,” it said.

For its operation in Turkiye, MAHB said the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport passenger movements continued to surpass 2019 levels since May 2023, with October 2023 recording 3.34 million passengers, a growth of 5.9 per cent over October 2019.

International passenger movements continued to exceed pre-pandemic levels at 133.1 per cent with 1.7 million passengers, while domestic passenger movements amounted to 1.6 million passengers, reaching 86.5 per cent. — Bernama