MAHB network of airports continued to show encouraging traffic numbers registering more than 10 million passenger movements, despite the off-peak season travel in the month of October. In comparison 2022 October saw around 8 million
International passenger movements for the first time contributed more than 50% of the overall total passenger handled in October and, reached 91.5% over pre-pandemic levels, the highest monthly traffic recovery registered to-date.
Domestic passenger movements registered 5.0 million passengers, retaining more than 80% traffic recovery compared to pre-pandemic levels. On the local front, passenger movements in Malaysia continued to show steady traffic recovery in tandem with the gradual increase in airlines seat capacity as airlines progressively overcome shortage in fleets due to
challenges in supply chain, and MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul). International airlines seat capacity offered in October 2023 increased by 3.3%, which is higher compared to September 2023, bringing the international passenger movements to 3.4 million, a growth of 3.6% over September 2023. Encouragingly the average load factor increases month-on-month with 0.2 percentage points, indicating demand for air travel is growing positively.
The increase in international passenger movements were also supported by new services from KLIA to Zhangjiajie Dayong with three weekly flights by Batik Air Malaysia, Kertajati, Indonesia daily flight services by Malaysia Airlines and daily service from Padang by Super Air Jet. Qatar Airways has resumed daily services from Doha-Phuket-Penang. Thai Airways International commenced a new daily service to Bangkok from Penang International Airport.
Domestic passenger movements registered a total of 3.4 million passengers, reaching 80.3% of pre-pandemic levels. The average load factor for the domestic sector in October recorded 81.5%, the second highest to-date, although the airlines seat capacity offered is 69% of pre-pandemic levels in 2019, partly due to the recent suspension of a local airline in October, indicating domestic air travel demand is still positive.
Istanbul SGIA total passenger movements in October 2023 grew by 14% over October 2022, registering 3.3 million passengers and above 2019 levels by 4.7%. The international and domestic passenger movements recorded 1.7 million and 1.6 million passengers, a growth of 12.3% and 16.6% over October 2022, respectively
