Malaysia airports records 98.8 drop in passenger movements in April



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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) announced on Tuesday (May 12) that passenger movements across its system were reduced by 98.8% yoy last month to just 137,000 passengers amid enforcement of the Order of Movement Control (MCO).

The international sector recorded a 99.3% decrease with passenger traffic of 39,000 in April, while domestic passenger movements decreased by 98.4 percent to just over 97,000 passengers.

In a presentation to Bursa Malaysia today, MAHB said that traffic performance in April in both Malaysia and Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) was affected by the full implementation of the MCO in Malaysia and the temporary suspension of Istanbul SGIA after the Turkish government’s decision to close the borders.

“The implementation of the MCO in Malaysia has restricted airport and airline operations to repatriation and cargo flights.

“Local airlines have recommended flights to key domestic routes with minimum frequencies since April 29, 2020, in the midst of the MCO, with airlines working collectively with airports to ensure a safe environment with effective layers of measures to ensure a journey smooth and safe, “he said. .

The airport operator said that in the past 12 months, the total MAHB system recorded 121.6 million passenger movements, 10 percent less than in the corresponding prior period.

The general movements of the aircraft contracted by 91.6% with the international and national movements of the nose dive aircraft by 92.9% and 90.7%, respectively, in April 2019.

MAHB said the MCO, initially imposed for two weeks from March 18 with various extensions since then, is now expected to end on June 9.

Flights were initially restricted to repatriation operations, to and from the international sector and Malaysian travelers rescued in progress to the domestic sector.

“However, since April 29, local airlines have recommended flights to key domestic routes with minimum frequencies and are ready to increase more flights with government backing to allow more interstate border movements with strict travel guidelines.”

“The latest announcement of a Conditional MCO (CMCO) on May 4 allowed almost all companies to resume with strict SOP (standard operating procedure) guidelines, therefore allowing duty free shops at our airports to restart their business “, said.

Going forward, MAHB said increased security measures and innovative ways to regain traveler confidence through the technological approach would play a bigger role.

“A new travel standard that would see additional processes, masking the application and social distancing, among others, to ensure a safer travel experience is inevitable for now. Keep going.

“Malaysia Airports has leveraged the MCO to embark on updating its core network operating system as part of its digital transformation program, which would also support other infrastructure improvements and capacity developments to provide better process automation, contactless self-service augmented, robotics and biometric technology, “he added. – Bernama



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