KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11 — Air passenger traffic in Malaysia has recorded a 71.7 per cent increase in the first nine months of the year compared to the same period last year, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
From January to September this year, 62.83 million air passengers were recorded. For September alone, 7.17 million air passengers were recorded, of which 3.3 million were international and 3.85 million domestic passengers.
“We expect that next year the air passenger traffic will return to pre-Covid-19 levels in 2019. This is, of course, very important for the development and growth of the aviation sector and the Malaysian economy.
“This is important when it comes to foreign tourists in Malaysia as the tourism sector is one of the main catalysts for national economic growth, as it involves sectors like services, hospitality, retail, and so on,” he said.
Loke was speaking at a press conference after chairing the National Aviation Consultative Council (NACC) meeting today.
In 2019, Malaysia handled over 100 million air passengers in all airports nationwide, and it expects to achieve 80 per cent or over 80 million air passengers by the end of this year.
Due to this, he stressed the NACC’s important role as a platform to connect stakeholders from airports, airline companies, and ground handlers to cooperate in ensuring the smooth running of the aviation sector and further increasing connectivity to more destinations.
“We are still behind in terms of connectivity in Asean, and we are trying to ensure we continue to be in a better position.
“In terms of the Asean airports index connectivity, we are behind Singapore, Bangkok (Thailand) and Manila (the Philippines)…we are in fourth place, with the number of destinations we have from Malaysia at 90 in 2023 compared to 137 in 2019,” Loke said.
Earlier, the NACC meeting, the first time it is being held this year and attended by 70 high-level representatives from the ministry, departments, agencies, and aviation sector industry players, focused on green aviation via the presentation of the State Action Plan on Sustainable Aviation by the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM).
The minister said this comes after the government’s initiative through the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) to steer the energy sector’s transition towards achieving the net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission target.
“NETR outlines three initiatives under the aviation sector to achieve the net zero carbon emissions target as early as 2050 for international aviation.
“This is in line with the resolution agreed through the Long-Term Aspirational Goal (LTAG) under the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to achieve net zero carbon emissions, with a focus on cleaner energy solutions.
“The target set by NETR for the aviation sector is to achieve up to 47 per cent Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) blending mandate in 2050,” he said.
The initiative includes developing a roadmap for reducing carbon emissions from the aviation sector, which the MoT will lead.
MoT, via CAAM, is updating the State Action Plan version 4, which represents the government’s commitment to identify mitigation measures and action plans to achieve the net zero carbon target as early as 2050 for the international aviation sector.
This aligns with the ministry’s mission to ensure an efficient, integrated, safe, sustainable and user-friendly multi-modal transport system.
Loke said the NACC meeting today also decided that the proposal on requiring aircraft to switch off their engines and Auxiliary Power Units when parked (stationary) at the airport should be studied for implementation.
“In this matter, the MoT, together with Mavcom, CAAM, and MAHB (Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad), will examine all aspects of implementation, including the availability of infrastructure and enforcement of relevant legislation in mandating the implementation of this policy.
“At the same time, we welcome private sectors interested in providing suggestions for improvements in providing related facilities,” he said.
— Bernama
