PUTRAJAYA, Aug 25: Malaysia received 88,058 international flights in the first half of 2026, 3.7% fewer than initially scheduled. Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Dato Sri Tiong King Sing said 91,486 international flights had originally been scheduled to arrive in Malaysia between January and June.

However, 4,111 scheduled flights were cancelled due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. After adjustments, 683 new flights were added, leaving the total number of flights 3,428 below schedule.

“The impact of the Middle East conflict is clearly reflected in flight operations. Since the conflict began in February, the number of scheduled flights cancelled each month has risen steadily.

“Nine flights were cancelled in February. The figure rose to more than 300 in March, nearly 1,000 in April, and 1,419 international flights to Malaysia in June,” he said.

Seat capacity below projections, but up by more than one million from last year

 “Airlines had initially planned flight frequencies, aircraft types and seat capacity for the first half of 2026, with the maximum capacity expected to reach 18.34 million seats.

“However, the Middle East crisis affected some scheduled flights, including cancellations, flights that could not operate as planned and changes in aircraft types. At the same time, some routes saw additional frequencies or new flights introduced.

“After taking these increases and reductions into account, actual seat capacity in the first half of 2026 stood at about 17.63 million seats, 3.9% below the original projection,” he said.

“However, this does not mean that overall air capacity was lower than last year. Compared with the 16.627 million seats available in the same period in 2025, seat capacity in the first half of this year was still up 6%, or by more than one million seats.

“In other words, while actual capacity did not fully meet initial projections, the overall supply of airline seats was still higher than in the same period last year,” he added.

Tiong said Malaysia’s international air connectivity also continued to expand. Between January and July this year, 23 new routes, 12 new airline services to Malaysia and nine charter services were introduced, bringing the total number of new air services to 44.

In a statement issued with his First Half 2026 Progress Report, Tiong said flights from Northeast Asia recorded the largest increase in seat capacity compared with the same period last year, providing more than 500,000 additional seats, or an increase of 11.9%.

Flights from ASEAN countries recorded the second-largest increase, adding 376,423 seats, or 4.5%.

“The sharpest decline was seen in flights from the Middle East, where seat capacity fell from more than one million seats in the first six months of last year to 806,532 in the first half of this year.

“This included Europe-bound flights transiting through the Middle East, where seat capacity fell by more than 20% compared with the same period last year,” he said.

Tiong said the effects of flight cancellations were also reflected in the slower growth of international visitor arrivals to Malaysia.