Jan 2015 passenger movements increase by 22.4 pct to 8.5 mln - MAHB

Passenger movements for airports under Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) grew by 22.4 per cent to 8.5 million in January 2015 from seven million in January 2014.

In a statement today, MAHB said, this, however excluded its newly-acquired Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA).

"Overall traffic for the system of airports, including Istanbul SGIA registered a marginal decline of 0.5 per cent to 8.53 million over 8.58 million in January 2014," it said.

MAHB said Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Malaysia Airport Sdn Bhd airports' passengers in January 2015 were partly affected by the shift of the Chinese New Year festive season from January in 2014 to February in 2015.

Other factor was the unusually high base of a 25.8 per cent growth year-on-year experienced in January 2014, it said.

It said KLIA recorded four million passenger movements, a decline of 5.7 per cent over the same period in 2014.

However, MAHB said, its January 2015's traffic numbers were in line with its modest growth expectations for the first half of 2015.

"We note the lower-than-expected load factors for the month, although it is too early to conclude that consumer's sentiments may be weaker-than-expected," it said.

Moving forward, the airport operator said it was cautiously optimistic that total passenger traffic would be in line with its full-year expectations.