Sydney Airport - Traffic Performance November 2014

19-Dec-2014

CEO Kerrie Mather said, "Sydney Airport saw another month of strong growth in load factors during November, which increased 4.0 percentage points on international services. Higher load factors indicate demand for air travel continues to increase at Sydney Airport and has driven international passenger growth of 2.2% against the previous corresponding period (pcp).

"Chinese (+24.8%), Filipino (+21.5%), Taiwanese (+8.7%), Indian (+7.7%) and USA (+6.3%) nationality passengers grew particularly strongly in November. Australian residents travelling to the Philippines increased 56.4% during the month as new services from Philippine carriers Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines provide greater access to popular destinations with their respective networks. Cebu increased its capacity further on 10 December by adding a fifth weekly frequency to Manila. Australians travelling to New Zealand also increased strongly at 5.9%.

"The domestic market continues to display vigour as load factors reached the highest levels seen in three years with a 1.8 percentage point increase and delivered passenger growth of 1.3% on the pcp.

"As we enter the busy Christmas, New Year and summer holiday period, we welcome several capacity increases for the peak season at the airport. China Eastern Airlines will double its daily Shanghai services, China Southern Airlines is upgauging from an A330-300 to an A380 on its Guangzhou service, China Airlines is commencing its three weekly A330-300 services to Christchurch and Air Canada is upgauging from a 777-200 to a 777-300 on its Vancouver service. Collectively these services increase capacity by over 120,000 extra seats during our peak season supporting passengers traveling for Chinese New Year, the AFC Asia Cup to be hosted by Australia in January and the ICC Cricket World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand in February.

"At the start of December, Cathay Pacific also upgauged its Hong Kong service from an A330-300 to 777-300ER, increasing annualised capacity between Sydney and Hong Kong by 7%."

Key Points

• Average load factors improved in both domestic and international markets with 1.8 and 4.0 percentage point increases respectively.
• Domestic market reached the highest load factors seen in three years.
• Cathay Pacific upgauges its A330-300 to a 777-300ER between Hong Kong and Sydney providing an extra 71,500 seats annually.
• China Eastern Airlines increases to double daily services between Shanghai and Sydney providing an extra 34,000 seats for the peak season.
• China Southern Airlines upgauges its A330-300 to an A380 between Guangzhou and Sydney providing an extra 40,000 seats for the peak season.
• China Airlines commences a three weekly A330-300 service between Christchurch and Sydney providing an extra 24,000 seats for the peak season.
• Air Canada upgauges its 777-200 to a 777-300 between Vancouver and Sydney providing an extra 24,000 seats for the peak season.
• Total passenger traffic for November is estimated to have increased 1.5% on the pcp, with domestic traffic estimated to be up 1.3% on the pcp and international traffic (excluding domestic on-carriage) up 2.2% on the pcp.