At a virtual press conference after its Annual General Meeting today, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said it is positive it will be able to sustain itself despite the impact of Covid-19 on the travel industry due to its strong cash position and secure credit line. A full recovery of the travel sector is projected to happen by 2023.
Group CEO Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said MAHB has RM1.3 billion in cash and has secured RM1.35 billion revolving credit line from five of its partner banks as well as RM1.8 billion in unutilised sukuk.
“We have brought down our cash burn from RM120 million to RM80 million and now on a month-to-month basis it is as low as RM60 million. A tremendous reduction from where we started at the start of this pandemic,” he told the media.
Shukrie is confident that it will be able to sustain operations for the next 12-15 months without much issue with the current cash position and the credit facility lined up.
Beyond the 15 months, however, he pointed out that the sector would struggle to sustain as further profitability would hinge on the return of international travellers, he said.
“On average, it costs us RM18 to RM25 to manage one passenger. We collect only RM11 for domestic travellers and RM73 for international passengers. To get domestic travellers – it helps in terms of cash flow rather than nothing – at least it can cover a significant portion of our cost,” he said.
To illustrate the impact, the CEO projected that 2021 will see 5 million to 10 million passenger movements, against over 100 million passenger movements reported for the pre-pandemic period.
