NEW ZEALAND. In passenger traffic results that will be of major interest to those bidding on the current Auckland Airport duty free tender (JR/Duty Free, DFS, Lotte Duty Free, Aer Rianta International, and LS travel retail), the airport company today announced an all-time monthly high for December 2014.
International passenger volumes (excluding transit passengers) in December grew by +4.8% year-on-year to 780,925 – 11,000 greater than the previous record set in January 2014. This was driven by capacity increases on North Asian routes, driving higher visitor arrivals over summer, as well as people travelling to visit friends and relatives for the Christmas and New Year period.
Chinese arrivals surged by +38.5% in the month, followed by arrivals from Japan (+21.9%). Korean arrivals also showed strong growth at +19.7%.
The week ended 21 December 2014 was the busiest week ever at Auckland Airport with 187,624 international passengers, surpassing the previous record from the week ended 12 January 2014 by over 5,000 passengers. The record performance has continued into 2015 with the new weekly record having already been eclipsed by the 195,103 international passengers in the week ending 11 January 2015.
International passengers (excluding transit passengers) crossed the 7.8 million mark for the 12-month period ending 31 December 2014. The year saw visitor numbers increase predominantly from China, Australia, India, Japan and the US, largely due to additional route capacity, the airport noted.
Also turning in a strong performance in December 2014 was Queenstown Airport, which saw a +34.4% increase in international passengers. This was attributed to the commencement of Jetstar’s Gold Coast service in December, operating three flights per week, and an increased summer flight schedule which saw up to eight international flights per day over the Christmas holiday period. Queenstown Airport also recorded its highest month for domestic volumes with 96,498 passengers, a growth of +11.3%. Total number of passengers is up +16.3%.
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