KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) registered more than 11 million total passenger movements for July 2023, in an ongoing upward trend of steady traffic growth with both Malaysia and Türkiye operations recording a new high of 7.4 million and 3.7 million passenger movements respectively.

International and domestic passenger movements were also recorded at the highest volume for the year- to-date, with 5.4 million international passengers and 5.7 million domestic passengers.

“These represent 89 per cent and 87 per cent respectively of passenger numbers over the same period in 2019, signalling consistent progress towards a full recovery of pre-pandemic volumes,” it said in a statement today.

MAHB said international passenger movements in Malaysia for July 2023 increased by almost 10 per cent to 3.5 million passengers from 3.2 million passengers in the preceding month, while domestic passenger movements totalled 3.9 million, up 2.0 per cent from 3.8 million passengers in June 2023.

The growth from both the international and domestic sectors were contributed by the local school holiday towards the tail end of July, summer holidays in the Northern Hemisphere, gradual return of China travellers, the return of Hajj pilgrims, the operation of new airlines, and additional flight frequencies.

Last month, the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) welcomed the commencement of Salam Air from Muscat with two flights weekly, while AirAsia X introduced flights to Chengdu three times weekly, and MYAirline to Bangkok Don Mueang with seven flights weekly from KLIA.

Batik Air Malaysia had also commenced two new routes, namely twice weekly to Adelaide and four flights weekly to Chengdu. In Sabah and Sarawak, the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) welcomed two new airlines, Loong Air from Xi’An Xianyang with two flights weekly and Shanghai Airlines from Shanghai PuDong with seven flights weekly.

AirAsia resumed Beijing Daxing services with seven flights weekly and Macau with two flights weekly. Batik Air Malaysia resumed its China network with direct flights from KKIA and Langkawi to Chengdu once a week.

Türkiye operations

Meanwhile, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (SGIA) continued to show strong traffic momentum, surpassing pre-pandemic passenger volumes for three consecutive months.

SGIA recorded 3.7 million total passenger movements in July 2023, a growth of 8.6 per cent from the corresponding month in 2019, and a 13 per cent increase from 3.3 million passengers in the preceding month.

In tandem with the summer holidays, international passenger movements in July 2023 recorded the highest volume to-date, registering 1.9 million passengers, up 11 per cent from 1.7 million passengers in June 2023, MAHB said.

Domestic passenger movements recorded 1.8 million passengers, reaching 90 per cent of July 2019 levels, the highest recovery rate for the year, and a 16 per cent growth from 1.6 million passengers in June 2023. — Bernama