MAHB passenger movements surpass 7 mil mark for first time in two years

KUALA LUMPUR (June 23): Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) registered 7.1 million passenger movements in May, surpassing the seven million mark for the first time in two years.

Domestic passenger movements exceeded three million for the first time since February 2020, at 3.5 million, following the lifting of the ban on interstate travel and further stimulated by the reopening of borders, said MAHB.

International passenger movements reached one million for the first time since March 2020, recording more than 50% growth over April 2022, the airport operator said in a bourse filing.

It said both its domestic airports and the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) recorded the highest passenger volume for the year fuelled by the Aidilfitri celebrations, the Sabah and Sarawak harvest festival of Kaamatan and Gawai as well as the onset of summer holidays.

“Istanbul SGIA international sector shows traffic reached normalisation with passenger movements exceeding pre-Covid levels in May, attributed to leisure traffic, airlines route and capacity expansion.

“Domestic passenger movements reached 79% of pre-Covid traffic while international traffic recorded the highest volume to-date in 2022, reaching 1.2 million passengers,” said MAHB.

Noting that traffic trajectory is trending positively towards pre Covid-19 levels, MAHB said it will continue to closely monitor the developments on the global economic front and aviation industry.

MAHB’s share price closed down five sen or 0.79% at RM6.30 with some 972,900 shares transacted. The group is valued at RM10.45 billion.