KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s passenger traffic is forecast to contract by between 36.2% and 38.1% in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom).
“This translates to between 67.7 million and 69.7 million passengers in 2020, a considerable decrease from 2019’s all-time high of 109.2 million passengers,” the commission said in the sixth edition of its industry report.
The revised forecast took into account existing flight cancellations by both Malaysian and foreign carriers totalling 14 million seats between January and December 2020, in addition to further seat reductions of 15% for domestic routes and 20% for international routes.
However, Mavcom said material developments, both global and local, would continue to affect the industry’s outlook.
It said it would continue to monitor such developments and make adjustments to its forecasts accordingly.