KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has bagged the world’s No.1 spot in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey for the fourth quarter of 2021.

       This placement is achieved alongside nine other international airports in the same category of over 40 million passengers per annum that have all received a perfect score of five in the global survey, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) said in a statement.

       MAHB managing director Datuk Iskandar Mizal Mahmood pointed out that KLIA had consistently achieved a perfect score of five for ASQ element of “feeling safe and secure” in 2021.

       “The previous lull had enabled us to implement many improvement initiatives, and the perfect ASQ score is a validation of the effort put in by the entire airport community.

       “To be placed first alongside other global airports is also an honour for the country,” he said.

       The ASQ results were recently made known by Airports Council International which is responsible for benchmarking the world’s best airports in terms of overall passenger satisfaction for terminal safety, facilities, services, and cleanliness.

       Iskandar said the outlook for Malaysia’s aviation industry remains positive as the country witnessed the arrival of a new airline and the addition of several new flight routes last month.

       MAHB welcomed inaugural flights by SKS Airways at its Pangkor and Redang STOLports (short take-off and landing airports).

       Both STOLports now receive daily flights using the Twin Otter aircraft from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang.

       In addition, four new flight routes were also introduced by AirAsia in the same month to enhance the connectivity between Sabah and Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia.

       The new routes included Kuching - Langkawi, Penang - Sibu, Johor Baru - Bintulu, and Kota Kinabalu - Kuala Terengganu.

       “With international travel still restricted, the group’s passenger traffic performance in Malaysia is driven by domestic travellers.

       “For Malaysia, domestic traffic was recorded at 2.5 million passengers last month, making up 90% of Malaysia’s total passenger movements,” he noted.

       In January, 8,700 daily average passenger movements were recorded, a much higher daily average than November 2021 by two-fold but slightly lower than December 2021 by 2,000 daily average passengers.

       Iskandar also said December has consistently remained a peak month with the highest passenger movements in a year, pre-pandemic as well as during the Covid-19 pandemic.

       The resumption of ticket sales for the Vaccinated Travel Lane or VTL programme late last month and umrah travel on Feb 8 is also a positive development for recovery in international travel. — Bernama