BNE third quarter passenger traffic results

17-Apr-2014

Passenger numbers at Brisbane Airport (BNE) continue to increase with more than 16.4 million international and domestic passengers travelling through BNE since the beginning of FY14, a growth of 1.7 per cent or over 277,000 additional passengers compared with the same period in FY13.

International Review - March 2014 quarter

In January and February, BNE performed well relative to last year, due to strong capacity growth and a rebound in Australian resident departures.

In March, there was a slight decline in international traffic for the first time in FY14 (-1.1 per cent) due to different Easter and school holiday timing (late March in 2013 vs mid-April in 2014).

A new daily passenger record was also set on 5 January with 18,201 arrivals and departures. The previous record was achieved back in 2011.

It was a busy Chinese New Year at the terminal, with the China, Hong Kong and Taiwan markets up 12 per cent, 15 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. More capacity was offered by China Southern and the Taiwanese carriers during the last quarter.

Other markets driving the overall growth in the March quarter were BNE's second and fifth largest: New Zealand and USA.

The Japan market also made a surprise appearance in the top 10 in March with monthly passenger numbers exceeding 5,000 for the first time since 2010.

Domestic Review - March 2014 quarter

Though domestic passenger volumes were stable year-on-year in January and February, in March BNE achieved a year-on-year increase of 1.1 per cent in domestic passengers, up over 15,000 passengers to tally to more than 12.8 million passengers' year to date.

Interstate traffic growth outpaced intrastate traffic growth (+1.0 per cent vs -0.1 per cent) with the fastest growing city pairs including Hobart, Roma, Cairns, Melbourne and Perth.

Supply continues to exceed demand, which has impacted on the average load factor achieved

Looking forward to Q4 FY14

BNE expects April growth to be particularly positive due to the Easter and school holidays, leading to a strong end-of-year result.

Local and international airlines continue to increase services to and from BNE with Tigerair this week introducing its second based aircraft and launching new services to Cairns and Darwin, and Jetstar launching a new four times weekly Denpasar service (BNE's first scheduled B787 service).

Cathay Pacific and Hawaiian Airlines are also making routing or frequency changes.

Brisbane Airport Traffic Performance - Third quarter FY14