Passenger traffic at Malaysia's airports rose 4.5 percent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period in 2015, with Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) contributing the highest number of passengers handled.

Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) managing director Badlisham Ghazali said the increase surpassed the traffic volume target of 2.5 percent, with airlines such as Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and Malindo Air adding new services, coupled with the consolidation of Terminal 2 in Tanjung Aru, Kota Kinabalu this year into a single terminal at KKIA.

The number of passengers using MAHB's second busiest airport had soared to more than six million, he said.

"For the first nine months of 2016, passenger traffic has tremendously improved... Sabah can be proud of the growth in passenger traffic passing through KKIA.

"We saw a very big jump in passenger traffic with impressive international arrivals into this fastest growing airport," he said after a townhall session with Labuan Airport personnel in Labuan yesterday.

"Air travel is no longer a luxury but an option and convenience for people at large. We see a slight increase in both international and domestic traffic.

"However, MAHB is still weathering the changes that are happening at MAS after its difficulties in 2015. Hopefully, this will be the end after the restructuring and route rationalisation exercise.

"MAS is trying to churn its aircraft operation from ten hours to almost 12 hours a day. This means the national carrier could use its aircraft more efficiently and there will be more frequencies, hence, more passengers to the airport.

"Other carriers like Malindo Air is also growing significantly."

Marketing efforts

He said the continuous efforts by tourism agencies and MAHB's marketing efforts to bring back other carriers and more frequencies had contributed to the increased volume in passenger handling.

"Carriers like Turkish Airlines and Emirates Airlines have increased their frequencies and aircraft size while others have come back to Malaysia."

He said the Zika virus outbreak had not made any impact to the passenger traffic across the region.

On Labuan's tourism plan to bring in direct charter flights from China, he said Labuan Airport was capable of handling large aircraft including the Airbus A330 family.

"We welcome any initiatives (charter flights). We have been in discussions with both Labuan and the Ministry of Federal Territories leaders to increase direct flights and charter flights to the island.

"The immigration personnel at Labuan Airport are ready to accept international passengers and we are also prepared to look at the operation hour for more flights at the airport.

"I was informed there was an announcement by the Labuan Member of Parliament that a carrier was given an air operator certificate to operate charter flights from China to Labuan," he said.

"But, we may look at a slightly smaller aircraft for a start. For example, we have a special charter flight from China to Malacca on a smaller A319 aircraft. As for the charter flight to Labuan, we may start with the Boeing 737."

Badlisham said the Labuan Airport runway was built under Code 4E that could accommodate Airbus A330.

Earlier, he presented MAHB's financial aid to a religious school, Tahfiz Quran Al Ummi, as part of its corporate social responsibility.

- Bernama