KUALA LUMPUR,Oct 18 — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) recorded a total of 3.2 million passenger movements across its network of airports in September 2021, a contraction of 9.5 per cent over September 2020.

The airport operator said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today that the international passenger movements surged 111.9 per cent to 1.1 million passengers, while the domestic passenger movements were down 29.8 per cent to 2.1 million passengers.

“On a last 12-month basis, passenger movements for the total MAHB network contracted by 60.5 per cent over the same period to 28.6 million passengers,” it said, adding that the overall aircraft movements declined by 15.8 per cent.

Besides, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) passengers continued to register a 2.7 million passengers, soared 51 per cent in September 2021 compared to the same period last year.

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On the local front, airports in Malaysia registered 0.5 million passengers in September 2021, contracting 73.4 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), while the international and domestic sector recorded 0.1 million passengers and 0.4 million passengers y-o-y, respectively.

Overall aircraft movements decreased by 42.0 per cent with international aircraft movements increased by 51.9 per cent, while domestic aircraft movements contracted by 54.8 per cent respectively.

Overall, MAHB said Malaysia’s domestic traffic performance registered encouraging improvements after the launch of the Langkawi travel bubble programme from Sept 16, 2021.

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“Daily domestic passenger movements for Langkawi International Airport recorded a significant increase from 251 passengers registered on Sept 15 to more than 2,400 passengers on the first day of the programme.

“Prior to the re-opening, an average of 170 to 250 passengers was recorded daily, increasing to almost 4,000 passengers on the last seven days of September.

“The encouraging announcement coupled with MAHB’s initiatives ensuring health, safety, and world-class passenger experience, would help elevate Malaysia’s traffic prospect for a favourable recovery in the near term as the aviation sector restarts and ultimately reaches normalisation,” it said.

It added that Istanbul SGIA passenger movements continue to spearhead traffic recovery for the MAHB network of airports, sustaining growth momentum with September 2021 passenger movements reaching 86 per cent of September 2019 passenger volume. — Bernama