Sydney Airport passenger growth hits 12-year high after strong H1 performance

Sydney Airport saw passenger numbers shoot up to more than 21mn over the first half of 2017, while revenues climbed 7.9% to AU$741mn.

International traffic rose 7.7% which, combined with a domestic growth of 1.3%, represents the best performance for 12 years.

Much of the increased demand can be attributed to the likes of Qantas and other airlines opening up routes to Asia, with particular growth coming from China, India, Japan and Indonesia.

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Much of the passenger increase can be attributed to a 5.5% capacity growth and events like the school holidays and the recent British and Irish Lions rugby union tour.

Sydney Airport’s Managing Director and CEO Kerrie Mather welcomed the results and looked ahead to more routes being opened up. She said: “Sydney welcomes the announcement of its 7th mainland Chinese airline, Beijing Capital Airlines, serving its 15th mainland Chinese city, Qingdao. From 30 October, the airline will operate two services per week with a 222 seat A330-200, adding 46,000 seats annually.

“Qatar Airways announced a second daily Doha service, commencing on 12 February 2018 following the very strong performance of their initial daily A380 service. The new service will be operated with a tag to Canberra, on a 358-seat B777-300ER, adding more than 260,000 international seats per year.

“Qantas also announced seasonal flights between Sydney and Osaka from 14 December. Qantas will operate three flights per week on an A330-300, generating an additional 10,500 seats on the Japanese market over our summer period. Osaka is currently Sydney’s largest unserved market.”