Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) – the world’s 11th busiest international airport with 32.6m passengers last year – was hit by a -5.8% decline in sales per passenger in the first half of 2014.

 

While KLIA saw total commercial revenue rise by +3.3% to MYR 679.5m ($212m) in H1, against a healthy traffic increase of +9.7% (+9.2% in the main terminal building (MTB) and by +10.1% in the LCCT/Klia2), sales per passenger fell by -5.8% to MYR 27.79 ($8.67) – see chart below and click to enlarge.

 

Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) blames the negative result on disruption due to moving international flights from its Satellite Building to the Contact Pier, and also to overcrowding in the LCCT (low-cost carrier terminal) which has now been replaced by Klia2.

 

Click on the tables below to enlarge them.

Retail revenue at Eraman, the retail arm of MAHB, was up to MYR 261.1m ($81.5m), a +4.9% rise, but revenue per passenger fell by -4.3% to MYR 10.68. Eraman commands about 59% of total sales per pax at Klia2 (see chart below and click to enlarge).

 

RENTAL REVENUE SOARS

While the performance at KLIA on the passenger side was weak, MAHB saw substantial hikes in its retail and F&B rental revenue. This soared by +19.7% to MYR 107.6m ($33.6m).

 

Overall, across all MAHB’s airports, non-aeronautical revenue reached MYR 561.5m ($175.2m), up +7.3% in H1, with retail and food and beverage sales of MYR 302.8m ($94.5m), a growth of +6.9%. This compares with a traffic trend of +11.8% (international +10.4% and domestic +13.1%).

 

As a result, MAHB – which runs 39 airports in Malaysia (five international, 16 domestic, and 18 short take-off and landing ports) – saw its non-aeronautical revenue per passenger fall by -4.0% to MYR 13.59 ($18.40).

 

Malaysia Airports also operates and manages three overseas airports. These are: Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, and Hyderabad in India; and Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Turkey.