KUALA LUMPUR (Yosefardi) – Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) reported its passenger traffic grew by 6.8% recording 61.2 million passengers up to September 2014 compared to the same period over 2013.

International and domestic sector grew by 6.5% and 7.2% respectively. Correspondingly, 36.1 million passengers travelled through KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), recording an increase of 5%.

International and domestic sector grew by 6.9% and 0.5% respectively. Aircraft movements grew by 7.2% for the same reporting period.

For the third quarter many of the main international sectors to and from Malaysia registered declines in traffic.

China, Macao and Hong Kong traffic declined in the double-digit range. There was also a marginal decline in Middle East traffic but certain countries in the region registered very high decreases. Declines for Egypt, Iran and Yemen traffic was significant at above 20%.

The Europe sector grew marginally by 0.6% but there was a decline of 8-10% for Netherlands and for United Kingdom.

There was also a 3.3% decline in domestic traffic in the third quarter.

Malaysia’s traffic in the third quarter was likely affected by demand sentiments in the region as well as the two incidents involving Malaysia Airlines’ aircraft.