MAp Airports delivers another strong traffic performance in June

INTERNATIONAL. MAp Airports has posted a strong performance across its portfolio for June, with Sydney Airport leading the pack with double-digit passenger traffic growth.

International traffic at Sydney Airport grew +11.9% year-on-year while domestic traffic rose +13.6%. Total passenger traffic for June increased +13.2% to 2.73 million.

Australia was the major market which grew (+17%) together with encouraging increases from key travel retail source markets China (+40%), Japan (+38%), South Korea (+27%) and New Zealand (+8%). The US (+6%) and Germany (+5%) also posted good gains while India was ahead by +1%. France (-4%), Canada (-1%), and the UK (-1%) were the major markets that declined.

June saw another month of solid traffic growth across the portfolio
Kerrie Mather
Chief Executive
MAp Airports

The opening of the new Qantas Domestic Transfer Facility at the International Terminal will serve to provide faster seamless transfer for Qantas passengers, MAp Airports said.

In addition, Air Mauritius has started a weekly service between Sydney and Plaisance, giving passengers access to Air Mauritius’ extensive network of destinations.

Copenhagen Airport posted growth of +9.3% to 2.09 million, continuing the recovery in traffic following April’s ash cloud disruption. International traffic grew +6.5%.

SAS delivered a strong performance on its North American routes, namely the flights to Chicago, New York and Washington. International traffic benefited from a +45% increase in passengers travelling to Africa and continued growth across routes to Asia.

Cimber Sterling announced the opening of new routes with 12 weekly services to Amsterdam, seven weekly services to Zurich, a twice-weekly service to Istanbul as well as a three-times weekly service to Tel Aviv all from the start of the winter season.

easyJet announced the opening of a four-times weekly service to Basel starting in November 2010, while Norwegian will start a new winter service to Marrakesh in November 2010, with two weekly frequencies.

Brussels Airport handled 1.59 million passengers – a growth of +1.6% – primarily as a result of good performance from long haul carriers, as well as strong growth on a number of short haul routes operated by both full service and low cost carriers.

Extra-EU traffic was up +7.0%, driven by higher load factors across most major long haul carriers, new routes to Chicago (United Airlines), Montreal (Air Canada) and Shanghai (Hainan Airlines), as well as increased capacity offered by US Airways and Jet Airways.

Intra-EU traffic was down -1.3% despite strong growth from a number of full service carriers operating on short haul routes and underlying growth of low cost carriers. In both cases, growth has been driven by increases in load factors and the introduction of additional services. Intra-EU traffic continued to be affected by Sky Europe’s bankruptcy in September 2009 and British Airways strikes.

Four new routes were launched in June, connecting Brussels Airport with Reykjavik (Icelandair), Beirut (MEA), Montréal (Air Canada) and Alghero (Alitalia). The airport’s route network was further enhanced in July by new services to Africa (Abidjan, Accra, Cotonou, Lome and Ouagadougou) operated by Brussels Airlines, a new service to Ercan operated by Corendon Airlines, and increased frequencies to London (BA) and Barcelona (Vueling).

In addition Hong Kong Airlines announced three weekly services to Hong Kong commencing in October 2010, Qatar Airways will launch five weekly services to Doha in January 2011, MEA will maintain its flights to Beirut throughout the whole year and Lufthansa will increase its frequency to Frankfurt by adding two additional daily flights from November 2010.

MAp Chief Executive Kerrie Mather said: “June saw another month of solid traffic growth across the portfolio. Sydney Airport delivered double-digit traffic growth, reflecting the ongoing strength of both domestic and international traffic. Copenhagen Airport continues to enjoy strong domestic growth and increased demand on international routes whilst Brussels Airport’s performance was mainly driven by strong long-haul growth and significant new capacity announcements.

“Sydney Airport continues to deliver an excellent performance driven by a strong outbound market as well as growth from the US, New Zealand and Asian inbound markets, particularly China and Korea. The growth in domestic traffic reflects capacity increases, in particular from Jetstar. Sydney Airport also welcomed Air Mauritius to the airport and the opening of the new Qantas Domestic Transfer Facility at the International Terminal.

“Copenhagen Airport delivered a +9.3% increase in passengers reflecting growth on SAS’ North American routes whilst increased capacity drove continued growth on African Charter routes as well as Asian routes. Copenhagen also welcomed a number of capacity announcements with the introduction of an easyJet service to Basel, a Norwegian service to Marrakesh and the expansion of Cimber Sterling’s network with services to Amsterdam, Zurich, Istanbul and Tel Aviv.

“Brussels Airport continues to benefit from strong long haul traffic growth reflecting load factor increases and the introduction of new services. Brussels Airport continues to attract significant capacity announcements with the recently introduced Air Canada service to Montreal and expected launches of services to Abidjan, Accra, Cotonou, Doha, Hong Kong, Lome and Ouagadougou over coming months paving the way for future growth. The performance on short haul routes was supported by the rebound in business traffic and good underlying growth from low cost airlines,” Mather added.

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