KUALA LUMPUR, 16 JULY: The Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) of Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd has moved closer to normalisation after surpassing the two million passenger threshold for the first time since March 2020 in June. Following the lifting of border restrictions on June 10, the SGIA registered 2.24 million passengers last month, according to MAHB’s passenger traffic snapshot. With 2.63 million passengers registered, the last time was in February 2020. In 2019, the SGIA passenger snapshot averaged slightly less than 3 million passengers per month.
Meanwhile, passengers at MAHB’s Malaysian airports totaled 187,000 in June, down 57.1 percent from 435,000 the previous month, owing to declines at both KLIA and the other local airports the company controls.
While Malaysian passenger traffic was constrained by travel restrictions, airlines began to undertake more cargo flights, according to MAHB.
“In June 2021, the number of cargo flights, including charters, more than tripled from pre-Covid levels, registering a 26.4 percent increase in freight movements over June 2020, or 11.7 percent greater than the cargo load recorded in June 2019.”
“Equally, domestic cargo movements for June 2021 registered double-digit growth of roughly 20.0 percent over June 2020, or 35.4 percent over June 2019, mainly driven by e-commerce activity, shipments of perishable commodities, and some pharmaceuticals,” it stated.
In total, 2.43 million passengers passed through MAHB’s network of airports in June, jumping 153.2 percent from 960,000 the previous month.
Meanwhile, the number of aircraft increased by 68.1 percent to 27,563 from 16,400, aided by SGIA’s over three-fold expansion, while the number of aircraft in Malaysia decreased by 3.2 percent.
MAHB’s airports suffered a 55.5 percent year-on-year drop in passengers to 12 million in the first half of 2021 (1H2021), compared to 1H2020 levels, while aircraft movements fell by 58.7%.
At 3.05pm, MAHB’s stock had risen 13 sen, or 2.28 percent, to RM5.83, valuing the company at RM9.56 billion./n
