Air passenger traffic up in March despite MH370 incident - MAHB

Despite a decline in the growth rate for air passenger traffic towards the last 10 days of March due to the recent Flight MH370 incident, the overall growth momentum remains positive, said Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).

Passenger traffic grew by 13 per cent in March, bringing the first three months' total growth to 18 per cent compared with the same period last year, the airports operator said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia.

A new record total of 20.6 million passengers, for a single quarter, passed through MAHB's 39 airports in Malaysia, with broad-based growth in both domestic and international travel.

International passengers rose 15 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) while domestic traffic expanded by 22 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

"It is patently clear that both foreign airlines and the issuance of a third licence to Malindo Air, have resulted in the tapping of under-served demand," said MAHB.

Passengers at KLIA-Main Terminal Building grew by 19 per cent y-o-y in the first quarter to 6.5 million passengers, with Malaysia Airlines-oneworld alliance making the larger contributor to the growth.

Passengers at the low-cost carrier terminal grew by 13 per cent to 5.8 million passengers.