Sydney Airport Traffic Performance February 2015

20-Mar-2015

CEO Kerrie Mather said, "Passenger numbers have strengthened at Sydney Airport increasing 2.5% in the month of February over the prior corresponding period (pcp). Load factor increases and growth in capacity from Low Cost Carriers produced strong domestic passenger growth of 2.7%.

"International passengers grew 2.1% on the pcp as a result of a 2.8 percentage point increase in load factors. Asia continues to be our fastest growing region as rising wealth and urbanisation are driving an increasing propensity to travel. Economic recovery has supported consistently high growth in USA nationality passengers over the last year. Chinese (+23.7%), Indian (+15.6%), USA (+5.3%), Filipino (+23.5%), Canadian (+7.0%) and Taiwanese (+13.9%) nationality passengers were the major drivers of growth in February.

"Chinese New Year occurred on 19 February, supporting a 23.7% increase in Chinese passengers in the month. Sydney Airport had its busiest ever day of Chinese passengers with 7,400 Chinese nationals travelling through the airport on 27 February. The airport was brought to life with lion dancing and decorations, and our Mandarin speaking ambassadors were on hand to provide guidance through the airport.

"Over the last five years the number of Chinese passengers travelling during the Lunar New Year period has increased 90% and Sydney Airport hosted 230,000 Chinese nationals in the first two months of the year. Further travel related to Chinese New Year will continue through March. We are delighted to be facilitating so many Chinese travellers and the visiting friends and relatives market, as Sydney is home to the largest Australian-Chinese community. China remains our most significant growth market and we continue to work closely with airlines seeking to add services following the landmark increase in bilateral air right capacity announced in January.

"Cathay Pacific, following the success of its upgauged B777-300ER on the Sydney to Hong Kong route, announced it will introduce a second B777-300ER upgauge from October increasing capacity on the route by a further 8%.

"The first two months of 2015 have seen growth in the Australian outbound market of 2.4%."


Key Points
Average load factors improved in both domestic and international markets up 1.2 and 2.8 percentage points respectively.
Chinese New Year supported the busiest ever day of Chinese passengers at Sydney Airport in February with the number of Chinese nationals travelling during the Lunar New Year up 90% over the last five years.
Cathay Pacific will upgauge its A330-300 to a second 777-300ER between Hong Kong and Sydney in October providing an extra 65,700 seats annually.
Total passenger traffic for February is estimated to have increased 2.5% on the pcp, with domestic traffic estimated to have increased 2.7% on the pcp and international traffic increasing 2.1% on the pcp.