KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s aviation sector has been seeing sustained recovery and growth, with air passenger traffic reaching eight million passengers in November 2024, indicating a robust 15.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase compared with November 2023.
In a statement, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) said the passenger traffic in November 2024 represented the consistent recovery trend seen throughout the year.
It said the y-o-y growth was primarily driven by a surge in international travel, supported by new route launches and expanded seat capacity.
Mavcom also said the domestic air passenger traffic in November 2024 rose by 10.9% y-o-y to 3.8 million passengers, accounting for 47.5% of the total air passenger traffic. International air passenger traffic increased by 20.7% y-o-y to 4.2 million in November 2024.
It said the growth was distributed evenly between Asean and non-Asean regions, each contributing 2.1 million passengers.
Meanwhile, major airports in Malaysia posted strong y-o-y growth in November 2024 for both domestic and international routes especially the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport which recorded the highest y-o-y growth at 42.1%.
The list includes the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (up 18.2%), Penang International Airport (up 13.2%), Senai International Airport (up 14.9%), Langkawi International Airport (up 8.1%), Kuching International Airport (up 9.7%) and Kota Kinabalu International Airport (up 12.8%).
The cumulative passenger traffic from January to November 2024 stood at 88.3 million, positioning Malaysia to meet Mavcom’s full-year passenger traffic forecast of 95.4 million to 97.6 million.
Mavcom executive chairman Datuk Seri Saripuddin Kasim is confident that the momentum will continue this year. — Bernama
