MALAYSIA Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said in a Bursa filing today that passenger movements at its airports declined by 97.8% to 237,000 in May compared to a year ago.
Traffic performance at Malaysian airports and Istanbul SGIA were affected by the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Malaysia and temporary suspension of Istanbul SGIA following the Turkish government’s announcement to close borders.
Flights in May were still restricted to repatriation and cargo flights and the recent announcement on the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) to replace the CMCO from 10 June to 31 August would see more local airlines resume domestic flights.
“Airlines are working collectively with airports, guided by the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) issued by the Government and guidelines to restart operations by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Airport Council International (ACI),” said MAHB.
It also said the Turkish government had announced a relaxation of restrictions that allow intercity travel effective June 1, 2020. Pegasus and Anadolujet Airlines have resumed domestic flights from 1 June and have filed to increase frequencies.
Total MAHB system passenger movements contracted by 97.8% in May 2020 to 237,000 passengers. The international sector registered a 99.3% decline with over 33,000 passenger movements in May 2020, while domestic passenger movements declined by 96.4% to 204,000 passengers.
On a twelve-month basis, the total MAHB system recorded 111.2 million passenger movements, a decline of 17.9% over the same period last year.
“Overall aircraft movements contracted by 88.5% with international and domestic aircraft movements declining by 92.8% and 85.5% respectively over May 2019.
“KLIA recorded 88,000 passenger movements within the Asean and non-Asean sectors, registering 9,000 and 24,000 passenger movements respectively. May 2020 passenger movements for KLIA Main Terminal and klia2 recorded 62,000 and 26,000 passenger movements,” added MAHB.
The last 12 months passenger movements for KLIA Main Terminal and klia2 recorded 22.9 million and 25.1 million, a decline of 18.9% and 21.8% respectively over the corresponding period last year. Overall aircraft movements at KLIA declined by 91.7% over May 2019. International and domestic aircraft movements at KLIA decreased by 91.9% and 91.1% respectively.
The international and domestic aircraft movements declined by 88.0% and 78.9% in May 2020 over May 2019.
Istanbul SGIA was temporarily closed for operations in May 2020. However, there were several flights in May with marginal passenger volume due to the repatriation of Turkish citizens.
Domestic flights resumed on June 1 with limited capacity during the initial restart of operations by local airlines, gradually increasing frequencies over the following weeks.
Traffic performance in Malaysia and Turkey continued to be affected by the CMCO and temporary suspension of Istanbul ISGA’s operations in May 2020. Nevertheless, the restriction of movements at both countries has effectively contained the further spread of pandemic with a fall in Covid-19 new cases towards the end of May.
Both the Turkish and Malaysian governments had announced the relaxation of restrictions that permitted intercity and interstate travel on May 28 and June 6 respectively. International border control restrictions are still in place for Malaysia, however, at least until Aug 31. – June 11, 2020
