Auckland International Airport recorded a 7.9 per cent increase in domestic passengers for April, which helped to offset a flat month for international passengers.
The airport processed 512,108 domestic passengers despite the number of domestic aircraft movements falling by 0.4 per cent over the same month in 2009. The airport noted that the increase in domestic passengers was due to the stronger performance of Jetstar services compared to the previous Qantas services, while Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue also carried more passengers.
International passenger numbers were largely unchanged at 608,266. The airport noted that this was despite the impact of the Icelandic volcano on European long haul travel. Accordingly, arrivals from the UK were down by 19.8 per cent, while Australian arrivals decreased by three per cent as a result of the earlier school holiday season.