JOHOR BAHARU, Dec 7 (Bernama) -- The number of passengers using
the Senai Airport for the first nine months of this year has
declined by 10.5 percent compared with the number registered in the
same period of 2004.
In its Economic Report 2005/2006 released here Wednesday, the State
Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) said that during the period reviewed,
the Senai Airport received 928,623 passengers compared with 1.037
million passengers in 2004.
The airport is managed by Senai Airport Terminal Services
(SATS).
UPEN said that SATS had reported that the decline in the number of
passengers were caused by several factors, one of them being Air
Asia stopping some its international flights.
The rise in travel fares following the hike in oil price had also
contributed to the decline in both domestic and foreign passenger
traffic.
UPEN said that the majority of international travellers in the
airport comprised passengers travelling on China Airline which
operates a weekly service to the airport.
It said that the flow of passengers in Senai for the third quarter
of this year had declined by 15.3 percent to 297,069 compared with
350,535 in the previous year's corresponding quarter.
The total number of passengers in Senai for the third quarter
period was also a reduction of 4.1 percent compared with 309,745
recorded in the second quarter of this year.
However, UPEN said that SATS was confident of a recovery in
passenger traffic at the airport for the fourth quarter and had
projected 304,716 passengers for the final quarter.
As for cargo, the airport had reported a 10 percent decline in
total cargoes handled for the first nine months of this year at
5,608,042 kg compared with 6,232,082 kg handled in the same period
of last year.
It has projected total cargoes to be handled this year at 7,573,843
kg.
On ports in the state, UPEN said that for the first nine months of
this year, Pelabuhan Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) had registered a 5.1
percent increase in the handling of cargoes at 3.18 million TEUs
from a total of 3.126 TEUs handled in the same period of last
year.
Pasir Gudang port also saw an increase in the handling of cargoes
at 21.64 million tonnes or a 1.5 percent rise compared with the
same period of last year.
-- BERNAMA
