Sydney Airport has posted a one per cent increase in passenger traffic in August, underpinned by growth in international travellers.
The airport handled 3.202 million passengers in August, up from 3.17 million in the prior corresponding period, Sydney Airport said on Friday. International passengers rose 1.8 per cent in the month to 1.067 million, while there was an 0.7 per cent rise in domestic travellers to 2.132 million.
Sydney Airport chief executive Kerrie Mather described August’s international passenger increase as solid and noted the growth in capacity flagged for the period ahead included Etihad starting A380 services in June next year and the arrival of Cebu Pacific’s new Manila-Sydney service that debuted in September.
Mather said load factors for international flights rose two percentage points in August compared with a year ago.
“This is an indication of strong underlying demand for Sydney Airport from both inbound and outbound passengers which supports the ongoing expansion of the network and capacity flying from Sydney,” Mather said in a statement.
The number of Chinese nationals that passed through Sydney Airport roes 17.7 per cent in August, while there were also gains from Indian (16.4 per cent) and Taiwanese (23.7 per cent) visitors. By contrast, the number of Indonesians declined 26.1 per cent, Malaysian visitors fell 23.4 per cent and Singapore eased 11.4 per cent, Sydney Airport said.
Meanwhile, the launch of new direct flights to Japan helped Melbourne Airport post a healthy 6.5 per cent rise in international passenger numbers in August.
Melbourne Airport chief executive Chris Woodruff said the start of Jetstar’s direct Tullamarine-Tokyo Narita service in April, as well as increased capacity to North Asia, helped attract more overseas visitors.
Visitors from Japan rose 63 per cent in August compared with the prior corresponding period, while they were up 34.5 per cent from Hong Kong, 33.5 per cent from South Korea and 32.2 per cent from Taiwan.
“Growth in international passengers from North Asia was phenomenal in August,” Woodruff said.
“We’ll continue to work with our airlines to bring more direct flights to Victoria.”
The number of domestic travellers grew by a slender 0.5 per cent. Overall passenger numbers rose two per cent at Tullamarine in August to 2,655,084.
