It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas – pre-pandemic that is – for Sydney Airport.
Australia’s busiest air hub says it expects to welcome more than 2.2 million passengers through its terminals during the holiday season between 12 December and 1 January.
The three-week period is set to be the airport’s busiest Christmas period in three years and represents an 82 per cent recovery on 2019 levels.
The airport anticipates its domestic terminals will see more than 1.4 million passengers between 12 December and New Year’s Day, which is a 91 per cent recovery on the same period in 2019.
Meanwhile, overseas travel is set to return to 71 per cent of 2019 levels, with 800,000 passengers expected to pass through the international terminal during the same period.
According to Sydney Airport, passenger levels have been growing with each school holiday period, with 1.80 million passengers passing through SYD in the April holidays, 1.96 million in June/July, and 2.04 million in September.
It also said employment at the hub was almost back to pre-COVID levels, which in 2019 numbered around 33,000 staff across 800 businesses.
Thanks to improved staffing levels, operational performance has also lifted, with 95 per cent of domestic passengers clearing security in less than 10 minutes in November.
SYD advice for travellers
Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said it was “great to see people back flying and enjoying travel again” in the lead up to Australia’s first Christmas without COVID restrictions.
“The 10 days leading up to Christmas are going to be the busiest, and we’re continuing to ask passengers to arrive two hours prior departure for domestic flights, and three hours ahead for international,” he remarked.
“As many families head away to enjoy some time off over summer, the staff at Sydney airport will be working around the clock to help get passengers on their way. Every day we will have more than 60 additional customer service staff helping passengers through this peak period.
“We want to wish everyone safe and happy travels this Christmas and thank passengers in advance for being kind and patient with each other and with airport staff during this busy period.”
While Culbert said the airport was still “around 2,000 employees short of where we need to be”, the hub was “working hard to make sure most passengers will have a typical pre-COVID Christmas experience at the airport – busy but not chaotic”.
Visit www.sydneyairport.com.au for more information.
