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“All three of MAp’s airports delivered traffic growth in February 2011 despite a number of one-off impacts.“ |
Kerrie Mather CEO MAp Airports |
INTERNATIONAL. Copenhagen Airport was the stand-out performer among MAp Airports’ portfolio in February, with passenger traffic climbing by +5.5% year-on-year and international passenger volumes +10.1%. The other group airports, Sydney and Brussels, also posted growth, though there was some impact from severe weather and, in Europe, from political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.
Sydney Airport posted +0.5% year-on-year growth in the month, to 2.77 million passengers, with international traffic rising by 2.5% and domestic slipping by -0.2%.
Australia was the major market that grew (+11%), together with Korea (+10%), India (+9%), China (+7%) and Canada (+1%). France (-12%), Japan (-10%), the UK (-9%), the US (-5%), New Zealand (-2%), and Germany (-2%) were the major markets that declined.
In a potentially key move for this market, Australia and China have signed a new memorandum of understanding which increases the number of seats available between the two countries from 14,500 per week to 18,500 per week, with a further increase to 22,500 seats per week from February 2012.
Meanwhile, Australia and Vietnam have signed a new memorandum of understanding which increases the number of seats available between the two countries by up to 3,300 seats per week.
At Copenhagen Airport, passenger traffic climbed +5.5% to 1.52 million in the month, with international volumes rising +10.1% to 1.03 million.
Growth continues to be driven by new intercontinental routes launched in 2010 as well as by increased competition and greater capacity on routes to Paris, Amsterdam, and Frankfurt. Growth was moderated by a decline in traffic to the Middle East, as a result of the unrest in the region.
Charter traffic to Egypt, which is a popular destination at this time of year, was down -98% on February 2010. Egypt Air resumed flights to and from Cairo on 27 February following suspension at the end of January. Transfer traffic was down by -4.2% due to new direct competing routes from Swedish airports and a reduction in services to Barcelona.
Brussels Airport traffic increased by +1.3% to 1.09 million, with intra-EU passenger numbers up +2.8% and extra-EU down by -1.3%.
Significant increases in underlying long-haul traffic reflecting capacity additions were more than offset by service and booking cancellations to Egypt, Tunisia and Ivory Coast due to ongoing political unrest. The charter segment was particularly affected by North African cancellations.
MAp Chief Executive Kerrie Mather said: “All three of MAp’s airports delivered traffic growth in February 2011 despite a number of one-off impacts. Growth at Sydney was affected by the earlier timing of Chinese New Year and severe weather conditions in Australia while political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa impeded traffic growth at Copenhagen and Brussels.”
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