KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 17): Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (KL:AIRPORT) (MAHB) reported passenger growth of 36.1 million for the third quarter of 2024, representing a 10% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase and coming close to pre-pandemic levels, according to its statement released on Thursday.

MAHB said passenger traffic in 3Q2024 was driven by international passenger movement, which exceeded 3Q2019 levels by 7.4%, amounting to 18.9 million passengers. This contrasts with the more modest recovery in domestic travel, which reached 88.9% of pre-pandemic levels, at 17.2 million passengers.

Other factors for the growth in passenger traffic for 3Q2024 include the introduction of new airlines and routes, visa exemptions for travellers from China and India, and the stead increase in air travel demand, MAHB added.

MAHB’s local airport network also showed strong performance, with over four million international passenger movements every month in 3Q2024, hitting 99.3% of 2019 levels in the month of September 2024.

“Overall, total passenger movements at the airports in Malaysia for 3Q2024 totalled to 24.8 million, representing 92.3% of the levels recorded in 2019,” said the airport operator.

This growth in local airports passenger traffic was bolstered by the addition of five new airlines — 9 Air, Air India, AirAsia Cambodia, Lucky Air and Qingdao Airlines, along with 197 new weekly flight frequencies compared to 2Q2024.

The 30-day visa-free extension for Mainland Chinese visitors until December 2025 also facilitated the growth in passenger numbers, with weekly flight frequencies exceeding 3Q2019 by 24.8%, MAHB noted.

India, another key market, has rebounded to 90% of 2019 levels, further highlighting an increase in travel demand.

In September 2024, AirAsia expanded routes from the KL International Airport and Kota Kinabalu International Airport to destinations like Labuan Bajo, Manado and Kunming.

At the same time, the Subang Airport experienced a 42.5% surge in international passenger movements, driven by the launch of Scoot’s daily flights.

Meanwhile, MAHB’s asset in Türkiye, the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport, also delivered a strong performance, notching 11.3 million passengers in 3Q2024 — a 12% increase over the same period in 2019.

International passenger movements were particularly strong, rising 43.7% above 2019 levels, with 1.9 million passengers in September alone thanks to new routes from Pegasus Airlines to Iran and Spain.

Moving forward, MAHB remains optimistic about the future as it anticipated strong passenger movement driven by network expansion and seasonal demand.