Melbourne Airport has reported a 12 per cent increase in international passenger numbers, while reporting a slight decrease in domestic passengers for the month of February.
February saw an increase of 51,816 international passengers to 502,154 compared to February 2010, while there was a decrease of 2700 domestic passengers to 1,618,653.
“Passenger growth for February was again driven by China, with Chinese passport holders surging by another 21 per cent. This follows a 33 per cent increase in January and a 22 per cent increase for 2010,” Melbourne Airport CEO Chris Woodruff noted.
“China is now Melbourne’s number one long haul market and I thank our airline customers for their continued support in growing this market.”
Woodruff blamed the impact of Queensland and Victoria’s devastating New Year floods for the decrease in domestic travel figures. “With the focus fittingly on rebuilding homes and livelihoods, domestic travel was not a high priority for people in February. However, we don’t see the dip in domestic travel as a permanent one and feel that it will steadily improve over the coming months,” he said.
