The return of international service from China has contributed to the ongoing recovery of traffic at Routes Asia 2024 host Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad’s (MAHB) network of airports across Malaysia, with passenger numbers topping 80 million during 2023.

Overall traffic totaled 81.9 million passengers during the year, marking a rise of 55.4% over 2022 and equivalent to about 77.8% of 2019 levels. The year recorded a notable increase in the international sector with trends in the fourth quarter similar to those before the COVID crisis. International passengers in December 2023 topped 4 million for the first time since February 2020.

“The China market has shown the strongest recovery post-pandemic with more than 140% recovery in terms of weekly frequencies,” says Malaysia Airports. “ASEAN and Middle East markets are also almost reaching pre-pandemic levels, although Central Asia and Africa are still lagging in terms of recovery.”

Malaysia Airports says the encouraging traffic recovery is mainly driven by the reopening of China’s borders, coupled with the increase in airline seat capacity following the reactivation of aircraft and new deliveries. Six new airlines and seven airlines resumed services to 20 city pairs and seven countries in 2023, with the highest traffic to Indonesia, China, South Korea, and the Middle East.

Looking ahead, Malaysia Airports explains that the outlook for 2024 “looks bright” with further traffic growth expected, boosted by the relaxation of visa entry requirements. Malaysia began allowing visa-free entry to citizens of China, India and several Middle East nations in December, enabling them to stay for up to 30 days.

The move, announced by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, aims to boost inbound tourism from China and India, which are the country’s fourth- and fifth-largest sources of tourists, respectively. Additionally, China also started trialing visa-free travel for citizens from Malaysia from December through Nov. 30, 2024.

Since the relaxation, airlines have responded by adding new routes and frequencies. AirAsia has unveiled a new service to Shanghai from Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Malaysia’s Sabah state, and plans affiliate AirAsia X plans to resume flights between Kuala Lumpur and Xi’an in April. AirAsia has also confirmed new routes to Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam in India.

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Additionally, Batik Air has commenced scheduled routes from Kuala Lumpur to Kunming and Zhengzhou in China, as well as adding Langkawi-Chengdu charter services, while Malaysia Airlines has enhanced its India network with increased flights to Ahmedabad, Amritsar and Thiruvananthapuram.

Chinese carriers Xiamen Airlines and Sichuan Airlines have also expanded Malaysia service, with Xiamen restarting Xiamen-Penang and Sichuan commencing Haikou-Kuala Lumpur flights.

“China and India have always been Malaysia Airports’ focus markets to tap into due to its high population, growth potential and economic factors," the group says. “China is the largest aviation market in the world and India is expected to expand with the liberalisation of its aviation policy.”

Malaysia Airport says that the relaxation of visa requirements is expected to drive inbound tourism to Malaysia, supporting further economic growth.

Other new routes secured by Malaysia Airports in recent months have included Flydubai’s operations from Dubai to Penang and Langkawi, which began on Feb. 10, and the resumption of Qatar Airways flights to Penang. Omani LCC Salam Air also opened a route to Malaysia’s capital from Muscat in 2023.

Malaysia Airports says attracting service to and from Europe remains a key target—and will be a focus during Routes Asia 2024. At the present time, there are four nonstop scheduled routes between Malaysia and Europe, with KLM serving Kuala Lumpur-Amsterdam, Malaysia Airlines operating Kuala Lumpur-London Heathrow, and Turkish Airlines serving Kuala Lumpur-Istanbul. Batik Air also recently inaugurated Kuala Lumpur-Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen.

With air traffic across Malaysia Airports’  portfolio set to rise further this year, a series of investments are underway to increase capacity and improve the passenger experience. At Penang International Airport, a transformation project is underway that will see capacity almost double to 12 million passengers per year, while a regeneration plan for Subang Airport has been approved to expand capacity to up to 8 million per year by 2030.

Routes Asia 2024 will also provide a platform to showcase infrastructure improvements at Langkawi International Airport that have taken place in recent years. Langkawi won the Best Airport in Asia-Pacific Award for the 2 to 5 million passengers per annum category at the ACI Global Customer Experience Summit 2023.