KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) announced that its network of airports ended 2022 on a positive note by recording 83.9 million passengers and reaching 59.4% of 2019 levels.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, MAHB said the figures marked the first full year of traffic recovery since border closures in March 2020.
Traffic recovery outcome was supported by higher vaccination rates and its effectiveness followed by travellers’ confidence to travel, the easing of travel restrictions particularly for the Asia region, resumption of airlines operations and new routes.
“Malaysia passenger movements fared equally well in 2022, recording 52.7 million passengers reaching 50% of 2019 levels.
“The reopening of international borders from April 1, 2022 was a significant milestone for Malaysia and was in line with other countries in the region in easing travel restrictions,” MAHB said.
It also said international passenger movements reached 47.7% and domestic passenger movements reached 70.1% of 2019 levels with 32.2 million and 51.6 million passengers, respectively.
December 2022 recorded the highest monthly passenger movements since February 2020 with 9.5 million passengers, reaching 74% of 2019 levels.
Meanwhile, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) ended the year strongly with 31.2 million passenger movements, equivalent to 86.7% of 2019 levels, facilitated by less rigorous travel restrictions in the region.
International passengers at SGIA increased by 75.1% with 15.7 million passengers.
“It is noteworthy that international passenger movements have surpassed the 2019 level, recording a growth of 10.4% over the corresponding period in 2019,” it said.
Overall cargo movements for the network of airports remained resilient for 2022, registering a growth of 3.6% to 1,063 tonnes over 2021, MAHB noted.
Domestic cargo recorded double-digit growth of 11.3% over 2021 to 302,229 tonnes, while international cargo movements recorded a 0.9% growth to 760,931 tonnes.
The recent announcement on China’s reopening of borders also provided further optimism for better growth in the international sector in 2023, it said. – Bernama, January 27, 2023
