MAHB July passenger traffic reaches 10.5 million, up 5.1%

Passenger traffic for Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) system of airports in July rose 5.1 per cent to 10.5 million from the same period last year.

The passenger traffic volume was also contributed by the Istanbul-Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA).

"It is the highest passenger volume handled by the system of airports for a month to-date, and it was partly due to the Raya festive season and long holidays," MAHB said in a statement Wednesday.

The airport operator said most airports in the regions also recorded positive growth in July 2016, except in Europe and Africa.

Domestic traffic for the month was recorded at 5.8 million passengers, up 4.2 per cent year-on-year and also the highest passenger traffic achieved for a month.

International traffic recorded 4.7 million passengers, an increase of 6.2 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.

On a year-to-date basis, the total MAHB system registered 4.4 per cent growth with 68 million passengers.

On a last-twelve-month basis, the total MAHB system registered 4.3 per cent growth with 115 million passengers, while overall aircraft movements declined by 1.3 per cent with international and domestic movements registering a decrease of 0.8 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively over July 2015.

Overall aircraft movements decreased by 1.8 per cent with a reduction in international and domestic movements by 1.1 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively over July 2015.

However, overall average load factor improved in July 2016 by 5.9 percentage points for domestic and 7.1 percentage points for international movements compared to the same month last year.

The average load factor for July 2016 was 78 per cent.