Chief Executive Officer of Group, Mohd Shukrie Mohd Saleh said, Malaysian airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) is prepared to accommodate a travel bubble if the government is willing to reopen its international borders.

He said that, throughout the pandemic, the airport operator had not stopped its operation, and had taken additional cautionary measures to ensure passengers' safety, including placement at the airport of thermal scanners, compulsory use of facial masks as well as limited points of entry and exit at Kuala Lumpur's International Airport.

“We have been operating. It’s just that the number of flights has been reduced to below 5 percent. Even at the peak of the pandemic, we were still processing around 5,000 to 10,000 passengers a day through KLIA with a couple of flights meant to repatriate our people from around the world.

 “We have been handling (the traffic), the only thing now is how to scale-up the real bottle-neck going forward. (What) we need to ensure that we are fully ready is COVID-19 test results,” he said during a media briefing after MAHB's annual general meeting.

Mohd Shukrie said it would take usually a few hours to complete the test, which might result in smooth airport traffic.

Malaysia aims to launch 'travel bubbles,' involving six countries namely Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.

However, the decision has not yet been finalized because the mutual agreement on standard operating procedures (SOPs) is still being discussed with the countries.