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.

Editor Ⅰ: Zhang Wenwen

Editor Ⅱ: Wu Dan

Editor Ⅲ: Liu Guosong