AUSTRALIA. Strong traffic growth at Sydney Airport, including a record number of international passengers in a single month (1.09 million), underpinned a healthy performance from the MAp Airports portfolio in January.
Sydney Airport traffic grew by +5.9% year-on-year to just over 3 million passengers, with domestic traffic rising by +2.7% and crucially from a travel retail perspective, international traffic rising by +11.5%.
Australia was the major market which grew (+20%) together with traveller growth from the UK (+2%), New Zealand (+9%), the US (+18%), Japan (+1%), Korea (+25%), India (+2%), Canada (+8%), Germany (+14%) and France (+17%). China (-21%) was the major market that declined, affected by the later timing of Chinese New Year in 2010.
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Copenhagen Airport traffic rose by +5.7% to 1.38 million, with domestic numbers up +31%, international climbing by +6.3% and transfer traffic by +2.2%.
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“The +11.5% increase in international passengers [at Sydney] is great news given the investment in the redevelopment of the International Terminal.“ |
Kerrie Mather CEO MAp Airports |
This was the third consecutive month of growth in passenger numbers. Low cost competition continues to benefit the business, said MAp Airports.
Brussels Airport traffic increased by +1.8% over January 2009 to 1.03 million, with intra-EU traffic down by -1.7% and extra-EU traffic up by +7.6%.
The result was affected by unusually heavy snowfalls experienced across northern Europe, which resulted in the delay and cancellation of some flights.
Long haul continues to drive the extra-EU traffic performance, benefitting from very high Jet Airways’ load factors, increases in load factors and capacity from Etihad and improved performance from US carriers. Brussels Airlines also flew +10% more passengers on its long-haul network than in January last year.
New services have also been announced by Hainan Airways (to Shanghai), Middle East Airlines (Beirut), Thomas Cook (Oujda) and Corendon Airlines (Turkish destinations).
MAp Chief Executive Officer Kerrie Mather said: “This is a pleasing set of traffic results to begin 2010. We have now returned to growth across the portfolio, and prospects for the coming year are positive with a number of new routes already having been announced.
“Sydney Airport continues to deliver a strong traffic performance, with a record number of international passengers. The +11.5% increase in international passengers is great news given the significant investment in the redevelopment of the International Terminal, which is nearing completion. The result was also achieved despite the later timing of Chinese New Year which would have negatively impacted January traffic but should benefit the February numbers.
“MAp also welcomes new air services agreements with China and the UAE, which will accommodate the forecast growth in long-haul services to two of Sydney’s top ten international destinations.
“Copenhagen Airport maintained its recent growth, driven by an O&D traffic increase of +8.8%, the strongest growth since February 2008. Encouragingly, Cimber Sterling has announced a number of new destinations and increased frequencies that will take effect during the first half of 2010. These include routes to Madrid, Sofia, Bordeaux and Corsica, and the first scheduled flight from Denmark to Antalya in Turkey.
“Brussels Airport saw a return to growth this month, despite ongoing disruptions due to heavy snowfall. Traffic development has already accelerated in the early stages of 2010. New long haul capacity has been announced by Brussels Airlines, Middle East Airlines and Hainan Airlines, with both Middle East and Hainan offering new destinations. Leisure traffic also looks set to benefit from new capacity this year, with Thomas Cook and Turkish operator, Corendon Airlines, announcing expansions at the airport.”
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