Sydney Airport has reported an exceptional +12% increase in international passenger numbers to 1.341m for the month of April, with Managing Director and CEO Kerrie Mather pointing to a busy Easter and school holiday period which has helped boost numbers and extend the strong growth already seen so far this year.

 

“April’s international traffic performance was outstanding, with 12.1% growth on the prior corresponding period.

 

“A busy Easter and school holiday period contributed to the positive result, extending this year’s strong passenger growth. April year-to-date international traffic is 7.2% above the previous comparable and 17% above 2015 levels. Domestic traffic also remained robust in April.”

 

‘STRONG SYDNEY MARKET’

She said that domestic and international load factors also rose in April, ‘demonstrating the strength of the Sydney market’.

 

Airport management added that this was aided and highlighted by the announcement by Etihad that it now plans to upgrade a second daily service all-A380 airline status to cope with the expected demand serving Sydney from October.

 

This will add a further 123,000 seats annually on the Abu Dhabi-Sydney service and is good news for the airport and its retailers led by Heinemann Duty Free.

 

Following this upgrade, all seven daily flights between Sydney and the Middle East will be served by Airbus A380s, increasing passenger handling capacity by am impressive 50,000 weekly seats operated by four airlines.

 

GOOD SPEND-PER-HEAD PAX…

Mather added: ”I am also delighted that China Airlines has announced a doubling of Taiwanese capacity to Sydney from 1 December 2017, which will see Sydney Airport welcome its first service from the quieter, more environmentally friendly next generation Airbus A350 aircraft.

 

“China Airlines will operate year-round, double daily services, adding 280,000 seats on the Sydney-Taipei route. This announcement continues our recent strong pan-Asian growth.”