After one of the longest lockdowns and border restrictions in Australia, Western Australia’s main aviation hub has hit a major milestone with Perth Airport returning to pre-COVID passenger levels in February 2023.
Perth Airport’s post-pandemic recovery is underpinned by the FIFO market with regional travel numbers in February around 31 per cent higher than pre-COVID.
Interstate travel is almost back to 100 per cent (93%) while international travel numbers continue to build at 85 per cent of 2019 levels in February.
Perth Airport CEO Kate Holsgrove said the figures are a credit to the ‘Team WA’ approach with Tourism WA and the State Government to rebuilding aviation in Western Australia.
“It’s incredible that we’ve been able to reach this milestone in less than 12 months following the full reopening of borders,” Ms Holsgrove said.
“The international sector was always going to be the biggest challenge however our longstanding relationships with our airline partners and the work we have done to promote travel, reestablish flights and secure new routes is now paying dividends.”
Philippine Airlines commenced a new direct Perth–Manila service on 27 March and Air Nippon Airways (ANA) announced it will resume Perth-Tokyo flights in late October.
Ms Holsgrove said the recovery highlighted the need to start construction of a new parallel runway.
“We are at runway capacity in our morning peak periods from Tuesday to Thursday and there are also significant constraints at other times during the day,” Ms Holsgrove said.
“If we want to grow international and domestic tourism, and if we want the resources sector to continue its growth, we need to get on with construction.
“We remain hopeful that the Federal Government will help move this process along as the initial project approval was granted back in 2020.”
For more info, visit perthairport.com.au
