KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s total air passenger traffic reached 46.6 million in the first half of 2024 (1H24), marking a 15.3% increase year-on-year (y-o-y) from the 40.4 million recorded during the same period in 2023.
Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) said the international air passenger traffic was particularly strong, standing at 24 million, up by 35.9% from 17.6 million in 1H23.
“However, domestic passenger traffic decreased marginally by 0.7% y-o-y to 22.6 million passengers from 22.8 million in the same period last year,” it said in a statement yesterday.
The aviation commission said international traffic also held a higher share than domestic traffic in 1H24, accounting for 51.4% of the traffic compared to 48.6% for domestic traffic.
“This trend aligns with the pre-pandemic norm, where international passenger traffic typically exceeded domestic passenger traffic.
“Airlines have been actively restoring international routes and frequencies, responding to the shift in consumer travel preferences towards international destinations as the global tourism industry recovers from pandemic restrictions,” it said.
Mavcom said air traffic in June 2024 saw a significant uptick with passenger numbers climbing to 8.1 million, a 12.1% y-o-y increase from June 2023 and a 2.3% month-on-month (m-o-m) increase from May 2024.
“This increase is attributed to several public holidays driving domestic travel, with domestic passenger traffic rising by 4.2% m-o-m, from 3.9 million in May to 4.1 million in June 2024,” it said.
It said Asean passenger traffic showed the highest recovery rate, with 2.2 million passengers in June 2024, achieving a recovery rate of 93.3%. — Bernama
