SEPANG - Apart from the long holiday season and the relaxation of domestic travel restrictions, the introduction of seven new local flight routes boosted domestic passenger movements by three-fold in December 2020 when compared to the preceding month for our Malaysia operations. Over 1 million passengers traveled domestically via Malaysia Airports' network of 39 airports in Malaysia last month, providing encouraging signs of potential for air travel recovery. Compared to November 2020, the average daily passenger movements in December increased by 50% to about 34,500 with the highest daily domestic movements recorded at 54,000 on 27 December.

Airlines such as AirAsia (IATA Code: AK) and Firefly (IATA Code: FY) have made the strategic decision to provide new domestic routes to respond to the COVID-19 market demands. With international borders still closed, they are now focusing on enhancing local connectivity between the states, especially those with heavily frequented tourist destinations and business hubs.

In December alone, our airports saw seven new routes by AK with a frequency of three weekly flights each. From Kota Bharu Airport (IATA Code: KBR), passengers can now fly to Langkawi International Airport (IATA Code: LGK), Penang International Airport (IATA Code: PEN) and Senai Airport (IATA Code: JHB). There are also new flight connectivity to LGK from Ipoh Airport (IATA Code: IPH) and Kuching International Airport (IATA Code: KCH). Other new routes include PEN to Sibu Airport (IATA Code: SBW) and Bintulu Airport (IATA Code: BTU) to JHB. AK is also looking forward to launch their new route between Kota Kinabalu International Airport (IATA Code: BKI) and Terengganu Airport (IATA Code: TGG) in February 2021 to further widen its flight options while enhancing the flight connectivity within Malaysia.

This month, local community airline FY is also beginning its operations at PEN as its second hub. Passengers can look forward to three new destinations when flying from PEN which include JHB, BKI and KCH. These new flight routes will be operated twice daily.

The Group chief executive officer (Group CEO) of Malaysia Airports, Dato' Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said, 'We are committed in ensuring the highest levels of safety at our airports. We have already implemented many safety measures and will continue to benchmark our operational and safety practices on global standards so that passengers are assured of a safe travel experience.'

Meanwhile in Turkey, Malaysia Airports recorded 1.2 million passenger movements last month at its fully owned and operated Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (IATA Code: SAW) which contributed 52% to the Group's total passenger traffic movements of 2.3 million in December 2020. There was a slow down as compared to the previous month due to the re-imposition of curfew following the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Turkey and other countries. Nevertheless, Flydubai reinstated operations from Dubai with twice weekly flights in December increasing the total number of international connections for the airport to 69. On its local front, SAW connects to 59 domestic destinations.

(C) 2021 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire