“Neighboring Countries’ Airports Welcomed 65 Million Passengers in 6 Months, and Vietnam Is Keeping Up”

According to the report at the conference reviewing the work in the first 6 months and deploying key tasks for the last 6 months of 2024, Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) shared that its business operations were carried out amidst complex domestic and global market conditions.

“The slow recovery of the world economy, the continuous increase in gold, USD, and fuel prices, which led to higher input costs for some products, including air transport; the escalation of political instability in many regions disrupting supply chains; and the decline in the domestic aviation market due to difficulties faced by airlines have all impacted ACV’s business operations,” the company stated.

The number of take-offs and landings reached 332,841, accounting for 47.1% of the yearly plan and a decrease of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Among these, international take-offs and landings reached 126,703, a 27.1% increase compared to 2023, while domestic take-offs and landings reached 206,138, a 22.2% decrease compared to the previous year.

Passenger volume reached 54,665,639, accounting for 48% of the 2024 plan and a 3.8% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. International passengers reached 20,252,651, a 38.5% increase compared to 2023, while domestic passengers reached 34,412,989, an 18.5% decrease.

Cargo and mail volume reached 729,500 tons, accounting for 53.3% of the yearly plan and a 25.7% increase compared to 2023. International cargo and mail volume reached 498,000 tons, a 21.3% increase, while domestic volume reached 231,000 tons, a 36.3% increase.

First Half of 2024: Malaysian Airports Welcomed 65 Million Passengers

Meanwhile, Malaysia Airports, the company managing Malaysian airports, reported that Malaysian airports welcomed 65 million passengers in the first half of the year, reaching 95.4% of the 2019 figure.

This report highlights that the significant growth in traffic recovery was driven by the resurgence of international passenger movement, facilitated by the 30-day visa waiver for Chinese and Indian tourists and the reciprocal 15-day visa waiver for Malaysians traveling to China. The expansion also provided flexibility in travel for passengers and increased international flights and new routes.

Domestic passenger movement was also encouraging, recording a growth of 4.1% in the first half of 2023 with 30.9 million passengers, achieving 86.5% of the 2019 figure.

International passenger movement was the catalyst for growth, with a 35.8% increase compared to the first half of 2023.

Malaysian airports welcomed six new airlines (Cambodia Airways, Flydubai, Iraq Airways, Juneyao Airlines, Thai Lion Air, and Turkmenistan Airlines) in the first half of 2024, boosting total seat capacity recovery to 85%.

Additionally, the average load factor in the first half of 2024 exceeded the 2019 figure by 3.4 percentage points, reaching 78.8%, with a growing upward trend each month, indicating a positive demand pull that could drive higher seat capacity.

Recently, according to Bernama (Malaysia), Malaysia Airports recorded 12.4 million passengers in July 2024, marking a 7.3% increase compared to the previous month and setting a new post-pandemic record.

In a statement, the group shared that this growth was mainly driven by local airports, which recorded 8.5 million passengers, including 4.5 million international and 4.0 million domestic passengers, an 8.0% increase compared to the previous month.

The group also mentioned that international passenger movement increased by 11% compared to the previous month, while domestic movement grew by 5.0%.

Key markets such as Indonesia, China, and Singapore continued their dominance in July.

The group stated, “The addition of Qingdao Airlines and increased frequencies by airlines to and from China and Indonesia contributed to the recovery of total seat capacity to 85.8%.”