At the 19th AGM for Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (Malaysia Airports) held on 8 May at Kuala Lumpur Airport’s Sama-Sama Hotel, the company attributed its record results for 2017 to operational improvements, efficiency measures and strategic partnerships it had undertaken throughout the year. It also revealed that it is targeting EBITDA of RM2,092.0m ($529m) for 2018.

During the AGM, the Board confirmed previously reported record revenue of RM4,652.3m ($1,177m) and EBITDA of RM1,910.9m ($483.7m). Retail revenue grew 15.4% to RM853.7 ($216m) and currently represents 18.6% of the company’s total revenue. Retail and F&B sales per pax grew 11.7%.

MAHB manages and operates 39 airports in Malaysia: five international, 16 domestic and 18 STOLports (short take-off and landing ports). It also manages airports overseas in India, Turkey, Cambodia, Kazakhstan and The Maldives.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Y.A.M. Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Syed Anwar Jamalullail, Chairman of Malaysia Airports said: “Since I came on board in June 2017, I witnessed commendable performance growth both on the financial and operational fronts. Our good performance is indicative of strong foundations and robust strategies we have set in motion under our five-year business plan, Runway to Success 2020 (RtS2020).”

KLIA AEROPOLIS

On Tuesday, Malaysia Airports reminded those attending the AGM that it achieved a significant milestone under the Air Cargo & Logistic cluster with the ground-breaking of KLIA Aeropolis’ Digital Free Trade Zone (DFTZ) Park, last year.

The DFTZ Park is a strategic collaboration with Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of the Alibaba Group, to develop and operate a regional trans-shipment hub for e-commerce.

“Leveraging on KLIA’s substantial land bank to develop a thriving airport city, the KLIA Aeropolis development, a key pillar in Malaysia Airports’ five-year business plan (RtS2020), will propel further domestic economic growth and emerge as a regional economic enabler,” added MAHB during the AGM.

Last year, Malaysia Airports also entered into a strategic collaboration with Tourism Malaysia as part of a plan to promote inbound traffic globally, focusing on tourists from China, India and Europe.

ALIPAY PARTNERSHIP

MAHB also partnered with the world’s largest online and mobile-payment system, AliPay. “By collaborating with Alipay, Malaysia Airports hopes to create awareness, boost interest and also strengthen its brand positioning among travellers from China,” it stated.

Commenting on the outlook, Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, Managing Director of Malaysia Airports, said: “We are on track to deliver the initiatives outlined in the RtS2020 Business Plan. Moving forward, we will build on our rapid growth over the past few years by driving service improvements”.

“Malaysia Airports strong financial results in 2017 reaffirms our proven business strategies. We are confident that Malaysia Airports is well placed to meet any challenges ahead and maintain our earnings momentum in 2018”.

STRONG PASSENGER TRAFFIC GROWTH

Combining the operating performance of Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISGA), Malaysia Airports’ network of airports handled 128.0m passengers in 2017, representing a 7.9% growth over 2016.

In 2017, KLIA alone registered 58.6m passengers, with a growth rate of 11.2% outpacing its regional peers such as Changi, Bangkok and Hong Kong.

MAHB insist that KLIA is now ranked as the 12th busiest airport in the world for international passenger movements. Meanwhile, international passengers in Malaysia represented more than 50% of total passenger traffic for the first time.