Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd's (MAHB) network of airports, including Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (Istanbul SGIA), recorded 10.2 million passengers in June 2017, an 11.9 per cent growth over the same month of 2016.

MAHB said the overall increase in passengers in June was supported by growth in airline seats and an improvement in average load factors following the long weekend of Hari Raya Aidilfitri at the end-June.

International traffic recorded 4.6 million passengers with a year-on-year increase of 16.1 per cent, while domestic traffic improved by 8.6 per cent in recording 5.5 million passengers compared to June 2016.

"This is the highest traffic handled in a 12-month period by the network. Overall aircraft movement increased by 7.7 per cent with international and domestic movements registering an increase of 8.8 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively over June 2016," said MAHB in a filing to Bursa Malaysia today.

On the local front, airports in Malaysia registered 7.6 million passenger movements in June 2017, a 13.5 per cent year-on-year growth over June 2016.

Both the international and domestic sectors recorded 3.8 million passengers, representing a growth of 17.2 per cent and 10.0 per cent respectively.

International traffic for ASEAN countries grew 15.2 per cent with 1.9 million passengers, whereas non-ASEAN traffic posted a 19.2 per cent growth with 1.9 million passengers, with overall aircraft movement increasing by 11.6 per cent.

Overall average load factors improved to 74.7 per cent in June 2017, a slight increase of 0.3 percentage points compared with the same month last year.

On a last 12-month basis, the total MAHB network of airports (inclusive of Istanbul SGIA) registered 8.4 per cent growth with 124.0 million passengers.

MAHB's network of airports (including Istanbul SGIA) recorded 61.7 million passengers in the first half of 2017, representing a growth of 9.5 per cent over the same period last year.

International traffic improved by 13.0 per cent with 28.3 million passengers, while domestic passengers increased by 6.8 per cent with 33.3 million passengers.

Correspondingly, aircraft movement improved by 3.1 per cent with international and domestic movements increasing by 4.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively.

-- BERNAMA