KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) recorded a total of 2.0 million passengers across its network in April 2021, a growth of 1,366.2 per cent over a low base growth in the same month last year when the first full lockdown was imposed.
The airport operator said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today that international and domestic passenger movements were at 548,000 and 1.4 million, respectively.
“This was achieved despite continued interstate and international border closure in Malaysia, as well as interstate city suspension and temporary border closure to passengers from nine countries in Turkey,” it said.
Overall aircraft movements grew by 252.5 per cent with international and domestic aircraft movements increasing by 222.6 per cent and 267.1 per cent, respectively, over April 2020.
For a 12-month period, the total MAHB network of airports saw a 79.3 per cent decline to 25.2 million passengers.
On the local front, airports in Malaysia registered 630,000 passenger movements in April 2021, up 365.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), while the international and domestic sector recorded 107,000 and 523,000 passengers y-o-y, respectively.
Overall aircraft movements increased by 114.9 per cent, with international and domestic aircraft movements increasing by 67.2 per cent and 138.1 per cent y-o-y, respectively.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) recorded 224,000 passenger movements y-o-y in April 2021.
Overall aircraft movements at KLIA increased by 125.6 per cent y-o-y, with international and domestic aircraft movements increasing by 87.9 per cent and 295.4 per cent, respectively, for the same period.
As for Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, total passenger movements stood at 1.4 million in April 2021 with international and domestic sectors registering 441,000 and 913,000 passengers, respectively.
MAHB said attempts by both Malaysia and Turkey to introduce additional and renewed measures to curb the rise in COVID-19 cases and the threat of new variants might lead to a temporary deceleration in passenger recovery.
The vaccine rollout planned for the year in Malaysia and Turkey, nevertheless, would mitigate the impact and pave the way for a gradual recovery, it added.
