International passenger growth helped drive a positive first quarter performance at Melbourne Airport which welcomed 2.45m, up 9% on the same period last year alongside 6.35m domestic passengers – equivalent to a 3% rise on Q1 2015/16.

 

Airport management says this translated into a 4% increase to 8.8m passengers in Q1, with strong growth in evidence from all regions, with southeast Asia up +21.4%; NE Asia +19.9%, North and South America +6.9%, New Zealand/Pacific +1.0% and Europe +4.4%.

 

INCREASINGLY POPULAR DESTINATION

Last September registered an 8.5% rise in international passengers to 800,629, plus a 5.3% increase in domestic passengers to 2,136,818 compared to the same period last year. This totalled 2,937,447 – a 6.2% increase on September 2015.

 

Significant regions supporting the 8.5% international growth included Taiwan (+132.6%), Singapore (+48.1%), India (+23.8%), Malaysia (+18.5%), China (+10.6%), the US (+5.0%) and NZ (+3.0%).

 

 

CHINESE TRAFFIC IS GROWING

Late September also delivered another bonus as Beijing Capital Airlines began direct three-times-a-week services to Melbourne from the Chinese city of Shenyang, transiting Qingdao. [Melbourne Airport anticipates that China will continue to be source of international passenger growth-Ed].

 

Commenting on the performance, Lyell Strambi, Melbourne Airport CEO said: “Our first quarter passenger numbers highlight what a fantastic job the state of Victoria is doing to attract visitors from around Australia and across the world.

 

“As domestic travel continues to grow, we’re pleased to see more and more passengers heading to Melbourne. A month of close-fought footy finals in four states clearly helped drive some of our domestic traffic.

 

“At the same time, we are seeing an enormous desire amongst international passengers to come to Melbourne, and this has been a consistent trend for 40 quarters now. Melbourne’s, and Victoria’s attractiveness to international travellers really owes a lot to the great work of Team Victoria.”