KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) network of airports (including Istanbul SGIA) recorded 10.4 million passengers in May 2018, a decline of 2.3 per cent growth over the same month of last year.
“International traffic recorded 4.8 million passengers with a year-on-year decline of 0.3 per cent, while domestic traffic declined by 3.9 per cent compared to the same period a year ago in recording 5.6 million passengers,” it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia.
On a last-twelve-month basis, the total MAHB network of airports registered 5.9 per cent growth with 130.2 million passengers over a 12-month period.
MAHB said overall aircraft movements declined by 1.0 per cent with international movements registering an increase of 3.8 per cent, while the domestic movement declined by 3.9 per cent over May 2017.
“The decline in passenger traffic for May was mainly due to a more subdued air travel demand during the Ramadan fasting season which began on May 17, and the absence of school holidays, that generally falls on the last week of May,” it added.
It said the two-week school holidays in 2018 was scheduled to June (June 11 to 24) to coincide with the Eid al-Fitr festival season that is expected to fall on June 15 and 16.
The downtrend in traffic was similar to the decline experienced in 2017 and in previous years during Ramadhan. — Bernama