Around 1.261 million foreigners flew in and out of Sydney Airport over the holidays, a 2.3 percent jump on December the prior year.
According to the gateway’s latest figures, December 2014 traffic was around 200,000 over November. It was also the second highest month for traffic in and out of Sydney Airport, following January 2014, which welcomed 1.285 million passengers.
The increase was driven by the holiday period as well as new services including Fiji Airways’ new route from Suva and Cebu Pacific Air’s first flights between Sydney and Manila.
“In addition Qantas, Virgin Australia, China Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Philippine Airlines, LAN and Singapore Airlines delivered frequency increases and Qantas, Air Canada and Cathay Pacific upgraded aircraft.”
Kerrie Mather, Sydney Airport chief executive
Image: Iryna Rasko/Shutterstock
The strongest foreign nationality during the month came from China – making up 18.1 percent of all arrivals; Malaysia (13 percent); USA (3.9 percent); the Philippines (27.1 percent); India (eight percent); and Canada (6.6 percent).
Meanwhile, domestic arrivals for December last year grew 0.1 percent from 2.183 million during the same month 2013 to 2.185 million.
Sydney Airport expects 2015 traffic to increase further, particularly with Etihad’s plans to deploy its second flagship A380 aircraft to Sydney. According to Ms Mather this will add 38 percent more capacity between Sydney and Abu Dhabi.
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