News
Regulator downgrades air passenger recovery at Malaysia’s airlines
May 3rd 2021
Malaysia Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) has lowered its passenger forecast for calendar 2021 due to a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia and worldwide. Read More » It now expects the country’s passenger traffic will contract by 22.9%, to 29.1% this year, from 26.7 million passengers in 2020. This latest forecast was a significant turnaround from MAVCOM's December outlook, which was for passenger traffic in 2021 to be about double 2020 levels following an anticipated removal of international travel restrictions. “The Commission’s downward revision of passenger traffic for 2021 brings to the fore the clearly difficult task of weighing the underlying challenges faced by the industry," MAVCOM executive chairman, Saripuddin Hj. Kasim, said. MAVCOM said passenger traffic in Malaysia in the three months to March 31, 2021 fell 91.1%, to 1.7 million, from 19.1 million a year earlier.
