Despite the low peak period in November 2022, MAHB network of airports recorded 7.8 million passenger movements, of which international passenger movements have remained above the 3 million mark since July, recording 3.6 million passengers reaching 65.5% of 2019 levels. As for the domestic sector, it registered 4.2 million passenger movements in reaching 70.0% of November 2019.
Passenger movements for Malaysia remained above the 5 million mark since September 2022, recording 5.2 million passenger movements whicle international passenger movements continued to recover recording a new high of 2.2 million. MAHB notes there was a large improvement in passenger movements over October 2022 from Northeast Asia, Southwest Pacific, and South Asia via city-pair destinations such as Hong Kong, Incheon, Haneda, Perth, Melbourne, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kathmandu and Mumbai. KL International Airport (KLIA) also welcomed Spring Airlines from Nanning, China with once-weekly frequencies from 2 November. AirAsia also recommenced Taipei service with three weekly frequencies from 1 December adding to the passenger traffic.
Among the airlines operating at KLIA include Air Mauritius and Uzbekistan Airways resumed Mauritius and Tashkent services each with two flights weekly from 1 and 2 November. From 1 December 2022, Cathay Pacific recommenced its service from Hong Kong to Penang while Scoot Airlines resumed its service from Singapore to Kuantan, both with three flights weekly. Malaysia’s average total load factor has steadily remained above the 70% level since May 2022 and recorded an encouraging 10.2% growth in international aircraft movements over October 2022.
Despite November being a low peak month, airports in Malaysia recorded 2.9 million passenger movements. The 15th General Election (GE15), which took place on 19 November, contributed to the domestic traffic surge 11.8% in the third week of November against the second week of the month with an average daily passenger of 106,000 as voters travelled to cast their votes. Additionally, MYAirline, a new airline based in Malaysia commenced its inaugural flights from KLIA to Kota Kinabalu, Langkawi, Kuching, Kota Bharu and Penang from 1 December
MAHB owned, Istanbul Sabiha Gocken Airport (ISG) overall passenger movements were supported by the growth of international passengers by 22.2% over November 2019, driving total passenger movements close to November 2019 volume at 92%. International and domestic sectors recorded 1.4 million and 1.3 million passengers respectively. Passenger movements in 2022 continued to show similar seasonality trends over the same period in 2019 since May, indicating traffic recovery is gradually moving towards normalisation.
