Airports see 53% surge in international traffic after border reopening

International traffic at Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (Malaysia Airports) local network of airports has increased by 53% following the move to reopen borders on April 1.

The group, which manages and operates 39 airports in the country, said it had recorded an average of 23,000 international passenger movements daily, with traffic peaking at above 30,000 during the long Aidilfitri break.

“On the whole, the airports recorded a total of 642,128 international passenger movements, of which Kota Kinabalu International Airport, Penang International Airport, and Langkawi International Airport showed the most significant increase, by more than 200% respectively compared to the preceding month,” Malaysia Airports said in a statement today.

It added that a total of 2.78 million passengers were recorded for Malaysia in April, with domestic passenger movements totalling 2.13 million or 77%.

For both Malaysian and Turkish (Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport) operations, the group recorded a total of 4.90 million passenger movements, a drop of 7.9% compared to March.

“The decrease in passenger movements was due to April being the month of Ramadan that witnessed less demand for travel both locally and globally,” it said.

“Of the total passenger traffic movements of 4.89 million, local airports in Malaysia contributed 57% while Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Turkey registered a total of 2.13 million passengers, comprising 1.05 million international passengers and 1.08 million domestic passengers.”

According to Malaysia Airports, five airlines resumed 17 international routes last month, that is Vietjet Air, Scoot, AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, and AirAsia X.

“We are also pleased that our Tioman STOLport resumed operations this month to serve SKS Airways’ Subang Airport–TOD flight route. SKS Airways is currently the only carrier with a scheduled service flying this route four times weekly.

“We will continue to work closely with our partner airlines to speed up the pace of recovery for both domestic and international sectors,” said managing director Iskandar Mizal Mahmood.

Vietjet operates the Ho Chi Minh City–Kuala Lumpur (KUL) route with a four-time weekly service and is the fourth carrier to operate this route. Scoot meanwhile has resumed its daily flight service for the Kota Kinabalu–Singapore route.

The AirAsia group of carriers, including AirAsia Bhd, Thai AirAsia and AirAsia X, resumed the following routes: from Kota Kinabalu to Singapore, KUL to Hanoi, Langkawi to Singapore, Ipoh to Singapore, Hatyai to KUL, Don Mueng to Penang, KUL to Incheon, KUL to New Delhi, KUL to Ho Chi Minh City, KUL to Bengaluru, KUL to Kolkata, KUL to Kochi, KUL to Chennai, KUL to Tiruchirappall, and KUL to Siem Reap.