KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is confident that passenger traffic at its airports will recover gradually with an airline starting operations and the resumption of flights by other airlines.
MAHB said KL International Airport had welcomed back Cathay Pacific after a three-year hiatus last month.
The airline is offering weekly flights to Hong Kong from Kuala Lumpur and is looking to the inaugural flight of Starlux Airlines from Taipei in January.
“This new flight is an addition to its Taipei-Penang route that started early this year. As air travel slowly returns to normalcy, the airport continues to be diligent in the implementation of various safety measures to boost passenger confidence,” it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, at the Penang International Airport, AirAsia Indonesia is looking to resume its operations from Kuala Namu this month. It will be the sixth foreign airline to resume operations in the state.
MAHB also said local community airline Firefly will begin operating at Penang as its second hub by introducing new routes from the state to Kuching and Kota Kinabalu from January.
“The gradual resumption of airline operations and introduction of new routes continue to provide us with the optimistic outlook of recovery in the aviation sector.
“With the interstate and inter-district travel ban recently lifted and the upcoming long holiday season, we are expecting passenger movements to improve this month.
“Passengers can travel confidently via our airports with peace of mind as we have continuously implemented various Covid-19 safety measures since the onset of the pandemic,” it said.
On cargo operations in Malaysia, MAHB said the new e-fulfilment hub, Cainiao Aeropolis eWTP, commenced operations last month, in time to provide smart supply chain support for the global “11.11 Singles Day” online e-commerce sales by helping facilitate 24-hour delivery within Malaysia and 72-hour delivery to the rest of the world.
“The eWTP hub is a joint venture between Malaysia Airports and Alibaba group’s logistic unit, Cainiao, occupying 2.6 million square feet with 1.1 million square feet of warehouse space,” it said.
The new facility is projected to increase cargo volume by 700,000 tonnes, doubling KUL’s current volume to 1.4 million a year by 2029.
MAHB said cargo operations in Malaysia continued to show resilience by recording an average of 65,000 tonnes a month from January to November compared with 78,000 tonnes a month in 2019.