AUSTRALIA. Macquarie Airports said today that traffic at Sydney airport rose +12.3% year-on-year in August with international traffic up by +7.4% for the period.
Sydney’s two largest groups of travellers again grew strongly, Australian and New Zealand passenger numbers increased +13% and +34% respectively as airfare competition on the busy trans-Tasman route stimulated travel.
Asian markets, most impacted by SARS last year, saw reduced growth as the majority of these markets had begun to recover from SARS in August 2003. China grew +31% year-on-year (July +63%), while Japan increased +25% (July +31%).
Of MAP’s four airports in Europe – Rome Fiumicino and Ciampino, Bristol and Birmingham – the latter was the only one to report a decrease in August, down -5.0% year-on-year.
Traffic at Rome Airports rose +9% against the previous corresponding period (pcp). Growth continues to be driven by the continuing expansion of low-fare traffic at both Ciampino and Fiumicino. Extra-EU traffic was up +4.5% on the pcp with new capacity provided on transatlantic routes.
Maersk and SkyEurope are planning to add Rome services to Copenhagen and Krakow respectively from September. The start of the winter season on 31 October will see an expansion of low fare services from Ciampino operated by both Ryanair and easyJet. easyJet has announced it is starting double daily services to Geneva, and adding flights from Bristol, Newcastle and Nottingham East Midlands.
Ryanair has also announced services to Eindhoven and Santander from 31 October. In addition, Ryanair has announced new services to Luton, Liverpool, Niederrhein, Nottingham East Midlands, Teesside and Valencia starting in February 2005. In all, 13 new daily services will be operated from Ciampino by the end of the Winter season.
Meanwhile Bristol Airport in the UK recorded an +18.5% increase, driven by additional capacity across international and domestic markets. International scheduled flights increased by +40.8% year-on-year. New services to Bergerac, Berlin, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Copenhagen and Toulouse all contributed to this growth.
Charter traffic increased by +3.2%, a strong performance against a background of consolidation elsewhere in the market.
In an important development, Bristol Airport has announced that it has been successful in attracting its first commercial service to the US, with Continental to operate a daily service to Newark Airport, New York from 20 May 2005. Bristol becomes the third regional airport in England to have a long-haul scheduled service.
The decline in traffic at Birmingham was primarily due to the collapse of Duo Airways in May 2004. More positively, low cost carrier bmibaby will open a base at Birmingham Airport from January 2005.
International scheduled traffic was -4.0% lower than August last year. However, traffic increased on some routes. Transatlantic flights saw a +15% rise, mainly due to the introduction of Continental Airlines’ second daily service to New York/Newark which began on 15 June. Other scheduled destinations experiencing significant growth include Prague (+59.9%), Milan (+30.9%), Brussels (+18.7%) and Madrid (+16.5%).
Charter traffic decreased by -4.2% during August. However, some markets experienced growth, including the Dominican Republic (+204.5%), Turkey (+50.3%), Mexico (+49%), Croatia (+37.7%), Madeira (+25.4%) and Malta (+13.7%). Gulf Traveller, a low-fare subsidiary of Gulf Air, will commence four flights per week to Abu Dhabi from 1 April 2005. The new service will complement Birmingham Airports’s existing long haul route network, which includes twice daily services to New York, daily departures to Dubai and frequent operations to Ashgabat, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Tashkent and Tehran.
MAP Chief Executive Kerrie Mather said: “In August, Sydney, Rome and Bristol Airports experienced good traffic growth when compared with the previous corresponding period, with increasing competition and capacity by airlines continuing to be a major driver of passenger growth.”
MORE STORIES ON MACQUARIE AIRPORTS
Macquarie posts traffic growth at three airports; Duo Airways collapse slows Birmingham – 20/08/04
Retail shines as Macquarie Airports posts strong results at Sydney Airport – 20/07/04
Macquarie Airports posts traffic growth across the group – 19/04/04
Macquarie Airports poised to take advantage of recovery – 26/03/04
