MAHB: March 2016 Passenger Movements Up 2.7 Pct To 9.5 Mln

KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 (Bernama) -- Passenger movements at airports under Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB), including the Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA), grew 2.7 per cent year-on-year to 9.5 million in March 2016. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia (Malaysia's Stock Exchange), MAHB said international traffic jumped 2.9 per cent to 4.2 million passengers while domestic traffic increased 2.6 per cent to 5.3 million passengers. "For airports in Malaysia, 7.2 million passengers were registered in March 2016, a decrease of 0.8 per cent over March 2015 with the international sector up 2.1 per cent while the domestic sector down 3.3 per cent. "Istanbul SGIA passengers continued with its double-digit growth at 15.7 per cent for the month under review, with international and domestic sectors up 6.9 per cent and 20.5 per cent, respectively," it said. For the first quarter of this year, the total MAHB system handled 28 million passengers, up 6.9 per cent from the same period last year. On outlook, MAHB said the inherent demand for air travel continued to remain in the positive territory. "The second quarter has the advantage of Malaysia Airlines’ improving performance and the recently announced expanding code share with Emirates. "Similarly, Malindo Air’s expected codesharing and interlining agreements with other foreign carriers would help, now that they have moved back to the KLIA Main terminal," it said. Furthermore, MAHB said despite the double-digit cut in Malaysia Airlines frequencies, 3.4 per cent growth in passenger movements in Malaysia to 22 million for the first quarter was credible. In addition, the reduced frequencies have been more than replaced by the higher load factors and other new airlines. "MAHB is optimistic of its final numbers for Malaysian airports would at least meet the estimated 2.5 per cent growth for 2016," it added. -- BERNAMA