Melbourne Airport says international passenger traffic grew 6.6 per cent in August as airlines added new flights linking Tullamarine with destinations in Asia and New Zealand.
The airport handled 777,690 international passengers in August, up from 729,795 in the prior corresponding period. There was also growth in international travellers at Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.
Over the past 12 months, Melbourne has welcomed the Scoot’s flight to Singapore (November 2015), Xiamen Airlines’ service to Xiamen (July 2015) and China Airlines’ Taipei-Melbourne-Christchurch offering.
Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi said all three services contributed to the improvement in traffic figures during August.
“It’s important to recognise the significance of new airlines opening up Melbourne routes – both in terms of bringing international visitors to our wonderful state and city, and providing more travelling options for Victorians in return,” Strambi said in a statement.
Meanwhile, domestic traffic at Melbourne Tullamarine rose a more moderate one per cent to 2.02 million.
The airport said the 2.8 million total passengers for the month was the highest ever figure for August at Tullamarine.
Sydney Airport also posted healthy passenger growth in August, with the number of international travellers up 7.6 per cent in the month to 1.2 million, while domestic travellers were 2.9 per cent higher at 2.2 million.
There was more moderate growth at Brisbane Airport, where international passengers was up 2.9 per cent in August at 457,187, while its domestic terminals handled 1.5 million travellers, an increase of 2.3 per cent from the prior corresponding period.
And at Perth Airport, the growth in international passengers helped offset a drop in domestic travellers in August, as the slowdown in mining activity impacted demand for intra-state travel.
There was a 2.2 per cent rise in international passengers to 340,618, while domestic passengers fell 1.1 per cent to 772,175.
