KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Langkawi International Airport (LGK) were named as the world's number one airports for the second quarter of (Q2) of 2021 by Airports Council International (ACI).
Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said both airports achieved a perfect score of 5.0/5.0 in ACI's latest global Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey, benchmarking the world's best airports in terms of facilities and service standards.
Group chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said these encouraging results were a testament to the MAHB's efforts in continuously maintaining services and implementing safety measures while preparing for travel resumption.
"Major initiatives contributing to the improved performance include the strict implementation of new travel standard operating procedures (SOPs) that heightened a safe and secure travel experience and the opening of 64 newly refurbished washrooms for the continued comfort of passengers," he said in a statement today.
Mohd Shukrie said the refreshed and improved ambience of the terminal at LGK, resulting from its successful commercial reset initiative, continues to contribute to the overall satisfaction of passengers passing through the terminal.
MAHB said KLIA was previously in the ninth spot, scoring 4.99/5.0 for the first quarter (Q1) in the over 40 million passengers per annum (mppa) category, while LGK was in the third spot with a score of 4.97/5.00 in the 2.0 to 5.0 mppa category.
It added that the global achievement by these two airports was highly significant and marked the organisation's commitment to ensuring world-class passenger experiences.
MAHB surpassed the 3.0 million mark at 3.3 million total passenger movements in July for its network of airports for the first time this year.
"The majority traffic contributed by its Turkish asset, Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISG)."
With the easing of border restrictions and curfews, MAHB said ISG saw a 35 per cent increase in its total passenger movements at 3.0 million compared to the preceding month, reaching 89 per cent of its pre-Covid performance.
ISG's July 2021 domestic passenger movement recorded at 2.0 million, exceeding the passenger volume for any month pre-Covid in 2019 with 1.5 per cent growth over July 2019.
On the local front, MAHB's airport network recorded a nearly 40 per cent increase in total passenger movements at about 260,000 (international: 72,000 and domestic: 188,000) in July 2021.
MAHB said the marginal increase was a positive break for the company following the recent government's announcement in allowing flexibility for those fully vaccinated to travel interstate and the reopening of domestic tourism within the same state (for states that have progressed to Phase Two) from August 10 onwards.
The airport operator is also looking forward to the pilot project of Langkawi Island emulating the Phuket Sandbox Model by inoculating 80 per cent of the island's population in a move to open the island to fully vaccinated tourists.
It added that the possibility of the resumption of domestic tourism activities across Malaysia in September would provide the much-needed stimulus to the airports, airline partners and the tourism industry.