Strong traffic performance from Sydney Airport aids recovery across MAp Airports portfolio
Published: 19/03/10
Source: ©The Moodie Report
By Dermot Davitt
 |
"MAp’s airports have shown strong growth in February and particularly pleasing is the double digit growth achieved at Sydney and Copenhagen." |
Kerrie Mather
CEO
MAp Airports |
INTERNATIONAL. Strong growth at Sydney Airport in February led the continuing recovery in passenger traffic at the MAp Airports portfolio, which also includes Copenhagen and Brussels airports.
Sydney Airport traffic climbed by +12.3%, to 2.76 million passengers. Domestic traffic also rose by +12.3%, to 1.87 million, while international traffic surged by +11.8% to 880,000.
Australia was the major market which grew (+11%) together with traveller growth from the US (+20%), France (+18%), New Zealand (+15%), Korea (+9%), Germany (+6%), Japan (+5%), Canada (+5%), and the UK (+2%). India (-5%) was the major market that declined. Growth from China (+31%) was positively affected by the later timing of Chinese New Year when compared to 2009.
Crucially, Sydney Airport will strengthen its links to key Asia Pacific destinations with new airline deals. China Southern is expected to maintain its daily schedule to Guangzhou after the Chinese New Year peak. Cathay Pacific will increase frequencies on its Hong Kong route by three flights per week from July 2010, and Qantas will increase capacity to Japan from July 2010, replacing six of the seven weekly flights using A330 aircraft with larger B747 aircraft.
Copenhagen Airport traffic surged by +10.4% year-on-year to 1.44 million in February, with domestic volumes rising by +40% to 132,000 and international by +9.1% to 937,000. Transfer traffic grew by +5.5% to 375,000.
This was the fourth consecutive month of growth in passenger numbers, and the highest growth in passenger numbers since February 2008.
International traffic was driven by a good performance on short haul routes (+10.9%), as well as increased charter traffic to Sharm el Sheikh and Hurghada in Egypt and strong growth to Thailand and Tokyo.
Brussels Airport traffic rose by a solid +4.9% in the month, to 1.07 million passengers. Intra-EU traffic rose by +1.4% to 680,000 while extra-EU traffic climbed by +11.6% to 398,000.
Extra-EU traffic growth was driven by a strong long-haul performance and increased leisure traffic. Brussels Airlines operated +15% more long-haul flights than in the previous corresponding period (pcp) while maintaining load factors. Very high load factors on Jet Airways’ flights, additional capacity from Etihad and a strong recovery from the US carriers also contributed to growth, said MAp Airports. Increased traffic to Turkey and North African destinations has improved non-EU leisure traffic.
MAp Chief Executive Officer Kerrie Mather said: “MAp’s airports have shown strong growth in February and particularly pleasing is the double digit growth achieved at Sydney and Copenhagen. This continues the positive recovery in traffic numbers across the MAp portfolio and all of our airports are benefiting from additional capacity announcements.”
She added: “[Sydney Airport’s] February traffic has also been positively impacted by recent capacity increases and the later timing of Chinese New Year compared with 2009. Passengers also welcomed the significant upgrade of the facilities at the International Terminal in the latest independent passenger survey released by the airport, with 84% rating the terminal at 7 or above out of 10.
“Copenhagen Airport continued to deliver a strong traffic performance, driven by increased capacity and improved load factors. Transfer traffic returned to growth for the first time since September 2008 with an increase of +5.5% on the pcp. This will help to further strengthen Copenhagen Airport’s position as the primary Scandinavian hub. It was pleasing to see SAS return to traffic growth through Copenhagen in February. MAp also welcomes the announcement by transavia.com that it will commence three new routes to Italy this summer.
“Brussels Airport’s traffic [was] driven by the performance of the airport’s major airlines, in particular increased capacity by Brussels Airlines and easyJet, and the timing of school holidays which fell in February. All of the airport’s major carriers recorded positive traffic growth. The increased capacity from short and long-haul carriers sets a solid platform for traffic growth throughout the remainder of 2010.”
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