KUALA LUMPUR (March 22): Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) airport network continued to hold above the four million-mark since October 2021, with 4.7 million passengers recorded for February 2022. This was a year-on-year (y-o-y) increase of 186% from 1.6 million in February 2021.

On a month-on-month basis, it was slightly lower compared with January 2022's 4.8 million passengers.

In a statement with the local bourse, the airport operator said Malaysia and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) recorded 2.5 million and 2.1 million passenger movements, respectively, contributing to the month's growth.

Average daily passenger traffic volumes for Malaysia and Istanbul SGIA were 90,500 and 68,000, respectively, in February 2022, compared with 88,000 and 59,000, respectively, in January 2022.

On a trailing 12-month basis, the entire MAHB airport network recorded growth of 61.5% with 41.8 million passenger movements compared with 25.9 million in February 2021.

It believes traffic is likely to recover steadily in the coming months as more countries reopen borders, in line with higher vaccination rates in the region, continuing to gain momentum from the second half of 2022.

Meanwhile, the general closure of Ukrainian and Russian airspace as a result of the Ukraine-Russia conflict has led to a temporary disruption of flights between Istanbul SGIA and Ukraine and Russia (Moscow and St Petersburg).

"As for Asia-Pacific, the airspace closure has propelled airlines to reroute flights to Europe, adding flight time and increasing fuel consumption and cost. MAHB is closely monitoring the ongoing developments in Ukraine along with the rising jet fuel prices, and would continue assessing the impact on the group's international traffic," said MAHB.

MAHB shares closed up 12 sen or 1.9% to RM6.42 with some 947,300 shares traded. The company is valued at RM10.65 billion based on its closing share price.

Source: TheEdge - 23 Mar 2022