Malaysia Airports sees increase in local flights under RMCO

MAHB says the flight schedule by AirAsia for the June 10- 30 period showed an average of 22 domestic flight movements daily from Kuala Lumpur to both domestic and international destinations.

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia Airports has seen a gradual increase in the number of flights offered by local airlines at the KL International Airport over the past two days after the implementation of the recovery movement control order (RMCO).

Group CEO of Malaysia Airports Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said the average number of daily flights had increased from 97 to 122 — an increase of 15%.

“The country’s three main airlines —Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and Malindo Air — have reopened local flights and have aggressively stepped up their offerings to woo Malaysians to take a break and experience travel after a three-month stay at home.

“We are also seeing similar patterns at other international and domestic airports nationwide where passenger movements have increased three-fold over the last couple of days since the relaxation of the restrictions,” he said in a statement.

Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh

Mohd Shukrie said based on the flight schedule submitted by AirAsia for the period between June 10 and 30, there would be an average of 22 domestic flight movements daily from Kuala Lumpur to both domestic and international destinations.

Previously, he said aircraft movements involved repatriation of illegal migrants and cargo flights.

“The latest traffic report shows that the Malaysia Airports group registered a 97.8% contraction in passenger traffic movements in May compared to the same period last year.

“The international sector registered a 99.3% decline whereas the domestic sector declined by 96.4%.

“Overall aircraft movements for the month saw a decline of 88.5% over the previous year with the international and domestic sectors contracting by 92.8% and 85.5% respectively,” he said.

He also welcomed the move by the tourism, arts and culture ministry to revive the domestic tourism sector through the Cuti-Cuti Malaysia recovery plan.

“We also look forward to a time when international borders can reopen,” he said, adding that several countries such as Singapore, China, New Zealand and Australia have already implemented the “travel bubble” or safe travel corridor between certain countries. - FMT