Malaysia’s air traffic grows 14.3 pct on year in July

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) — Malaysia’s air passenger traffic grew 14.3 percent year on year and 7.7 percent month on month to 8.8 million in July, official data showed Monday.
The Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) said in a statement that this growth was primarily attributed to increased international travel, supported by the continued restoration of international routes, the implementation of 30-day visa exemptions for tourists from China and India, and the launch of new international destinations in July 2024, including Sihanouk in Cambodia, as well Qingdao and Yantai in China.
Overall, this brought July 2024’s traffic to 91.7 percent of pre-pandemic levels in July 2019, when traffic was at 9.6 million, with international traffic leading the recovery.
Domestic air passenger traffic in July 2024, which accounted for 48.4 percent of the total, recorded 4.3 million passengers, up 4.3 percent month on month and 3.5 percent year on year.
International air passenger traffic contributed 51.6 percent of the total and recorded 4.5 million passengers in July, rising 11.1 percent month on month and 26.6 percent year on year.
For the first seven months of 2024, the cumulative air passenger traffic reached 55.4 million passengers, in line with MAVCOM’s forecast of 93.9 to 107.1 million passengers for the entire year.
International traffic continues to be a key driver, constituting 51.4 percent of the total year-to-date passenger traffic, while domestic traffic accounted for 48.6 percent.
“As the aviation industry approaches pre-pandemic levels, MAVCOM is optimistic that Malaysia will be on track to meet the expected passenger traffic for the year…We look forward to seeing this positive uptrend continue into the remaining months of the year,” the commission’s executive chairman Saripuddin Kasim said. ■