Sydney Airport handled a total of nearly 19m passengers in HY1 (+2.1%) and over three million in June (+2.1% again) while international traffic continued to rise in June with strong growth of 2.8% to 1.047m and domestic passengers up 1.7% to 1.982m.

 

Commenting on the results, Sydney Airport Managing Director and CEO Kerrie Mather said: “The strong international result for the month was driven by higher average load factors (2.2%), as a consequence of both Australian outbound and foreign nationality demand.

 

“Inbound nationalities grew 3.7% due primarily to strong demand from Chinese (+18.6%), Philippine (+33.9%) and US (10.0%) nationals. Australian outbound grew 2.7% as a result of school holidays and increased seat supply, particularly to the UAE, Philippines and Singapore.

 

 

“Domestic passengers grew 1.7% on the previous corresponding period as a result of a 2.6% increase in seat capacity. Both the Qantas and Virgin groups added seats compared to the pcp.”

 

Mather added that the airport company was also ‘delighted’ that All Nippon Airways (ANA) has decided to commence operations at Sydney on 11 December 2015, offering daily direct Tokyo Haneda-Sydney services on its Dreamliner aircraft. She said this should bring more than 35,000 additional Japanese visitors to Sydney.

 

Capacity increases from Qantas, China Southern, Air China, Korean Air and ANA were also welcome, she said, representing further additional potential seat capacity of nearly 302,000 seats a year.

 

 

She said: “It is fantastic to see Sydney again voted the number one city in the 20th annual USA Travel + Leisure 2015 World’s Best Awards. This once again shows what an amazing world city Sydney is, with its iconic landmarks, stunning beaches, vibrant food and wine scene, and world-class events.

 

“The USA is an important visitor market for NSW, with the State welcoming more than 63% of all visitors to Australia from the USA in the year ending December 2014.”