KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) estimates that the number of flight passengers decreased by between 72.8% and 75.6% this year, following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Deputy Transport Minister Hasbi Habibollah said, based on the projected Malaysian passenger traffic scenario this year, the number will see a decrease in passengers to between 26.6 million and 29.7 million as compared with 109.2 million passengers last year.
He said airline companies are expected to take three years to fully recover from the impact of the pandemic, but this will still depend on the global Covid-19 situation.
"In preparation for the opening of the air transport sector, the government, through economic stimulus packages, has agreed, among others, that Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) will reduce aircraft landing and parking fees through negotiation and pricing mechanisms," he said during the question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said this in response to a question from Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (BN-Padang Terap) on mechanisms being drafted by the ministry to help low-cost carriers.
Apart from reducing landing and parking charges, he said the ministry has listed several recommendations to the Economic Advisory Council to address the problem of unemployment among airline workers and to assist airline companies.
Among the recommendations are exemptions on the limit for the number of employees in the sector eligible to receive financial assistance through the wage subsidy programme, cash incentives to increase ticket sales and other utility services rebate. – Bernama, December 15, 2020
