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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is confident that passenger traffic at its airports will gradually recover with the start of operations of one airline and the resumption of flights by other airlines.
MAHB said KL International Airport had welcomed Cathay Pacific after a three-year hiatus last month.
The airline offers weekly flights to Hong Kong from Kuala Lumpur and expects the inaugural Starlux Airlines flight from Taipei in January.
“This new flight is an addition to its Taipei-Penang route that began earlier this year. As air travel slowly returns to normal, the airport continues to be diligent in implementing various security measures to increase passenger confidence, ”it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, at Penang International Airport, AirAsia Indonesia seeks to resume operations from Kuala Namu this month. It will be the sixth foreign airline to resume operations in the state.
MAHB also said that local community airline Firefly will begin operating in Penang as its second hub by introducing new routes from the state to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu from January.
“The gradual resumption of airline operations and the introduction of new routes continue to provide us with the optimistic outlook for recovery in the aviation sector.
“With the recently lifted inter-state travel ban and the upcoming holiday season, we expect passenger movements to improve this month.
“Passengers can travel confidently through our airports with peace of mind, as we have continuously implemented various Covid-19 security measures since the start of the pandemic,” he said.
On cargo operations in Malaysia, MAHB said that the new electronic fulfillment center, Cainiao Aeropolis eWTP, started operations last month, in time to provide intelligent supply chain support for the global online e-commerce sales of the “11.11 Singles Day” by helping facilitate 24 hours. delivery within hours within Malaysia and delivery within 72 hours to the rest of the world.
“The eWTP center is a joint venture between Malaysia Airports and the Alibaba group’s logistics unit, Cainiao, occupying 2.6 million square feet with 1.1 million square feet of storage space,” he said.
The new facility is projected to increase cargo volume by 700,000 tonnes, doubling KUL’s current volume to 1.4 million a year by 2029.
MAHB said cargo operations in Malaysia continued to show resilience registering an average of 65,000 tonnes per month from January to November compared to 78,000 tonnes per month in 2019.
