Malaysia Airports targets 6.5% growth in passenger traffic

The Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (SGIA) in Instanbul, one of the two international airports in Turkey

SEPANG: Airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is targetting a 6.5% growth in passenger movement in Malaysia for 2017, driven by the company’s initiatives which included successful collaborations with promotional agencies to focus on intra-Asia markets to attract tourists.

“The double-digit growth in passenger traffic in the last four months has been most encouraging, and international passenger numbers have also increased,” said managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali after MAHB’s AGM in Sepang on Thursday.

He said MAHB had also attracted new airlines into its airports while tracking the local airlines’ aircraft deliveries.

Last year, MAHB’s passenger traffic grew 5.8% to 118.62 million against 112.11 million recorded in 2015.  

Meanwhile, Badlisham said MAHB was not opposed to looking at potential partners to add value to its Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISG) expansion plans.

“Our main priority is to work diligently to return our Turkey operations back to normal while still expecting double-digit growth,” said Badlisham, when asked to comment on a recent report that the company, as the sole owner of ISG, planned to sell a minority stake in Turkey’s second-biggest airport.

“We feel that our operations in Istanbul would offer the most opportunities for growth in the Asian market,” he added.

Badlisham said that the expansion of the airport’s second runway and existing terminals would be able to attract more airlines.

The group also maintained that it would utilise between RM300mil and RM400mil in the current financial year to refurbish and upgrade its airports.

“We are looking at critical areas that require upgrading and we are also looking at infrastructure maintenance and refurbishing our amenities,” he added. - Bernama