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Air passenger traffic likely to soar this year16 Jan 2025, by The Star

PUTRAJAYA: The air passenger traffi c recorded by Malaysian airports this year will likely surpasspre-pandemic levels, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke.

At a press conference here yesterday, he said the Malaysian aviation sector recorded 97.1 millionpassengers last year – a 14.3% increase compared to 2023, while Malaysian airports are expected to serve more than the 109.3 million passengers recorded in 2019.

“The Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) projects air traffi c passengers to reach between105.8 million and 112.9 million passengers this year.

“This represents a growth of between 8.4% to 15.6% year-on-year, while airlines are expected toincrease capacity by 15.8% this year compared to last year, driven by a signifi cant increase indomestic travel, which is forecast to grow by 21% year-on-year,” he said.

“The top three regions expected to see seat capacity growth from Malaysia are Africa, Europe, andSouth Asia.”

However, supply chain bottlenecks remain a challenge for the aviation industry, causing global delaysin aircraft manufacturing, component shortages and logistics disruptions.

“Malaysia Airlines is proactively addressing these challenges by reevaluating cost structures,optimising maintenance schedules, renegotiating supplier contracts, and reducing overheads,” saidLoke.

On the rising passenger traffi c, he said this development is in line with Mavcom’s projections, whichexpected 95.4 million to 97.6 million passengers last year.

“This represents 89% of 2019, which saw 109.3 million passengers,” he said.

“The increase is mainly driven by Asean and international travellers, which registered a growth of19.8% and 38.9%, respectively.

“Besides that, the domestic traveller segment achieved a growth of 2.2%.

“This growth is mainly driven by several factors, such as the increase in fl ight seats, visa exemptionfor Indian and Chinese tourists, as well as increased connectivity between China, India, Indonesia,South Korea, Australia and Gulf region countries.

“Last year also saw several airlines launching new routes, such as to Kazakhstan and Kenya,” he said.

All major airports in Malaysia registered growth last year, with KLIA registering 20%, followed byKota Kinabalu (13.1%), Penang (12.8%), Senai (11.3%), Langkawi (1.8%) and Kuching (1%).

Loke said the latest fi gures refl ect a healthy growth and it was contributed mainly by governmentpolicies such as visa liberalisation.

“This enables more tourists from China and India, which is the biggest contributing factor,” he said.

Mavcom also expects air cargo volume this year to increase by between 4.5% and 8.5%.