International traffic into Sydney Airport continues to benefit from the booming Asia market, according to latest figures.
The gateway announced this week that its revenue for the first six months of the 2014/15 financial year increased to $1.1 million – 4.3 percent more than the corresponding period the prior year.
EBITDA grew 6.1 percent, which the airport says was driven by the 1.7 percent growth in passengers.
Chinese visitors helped drive up revenues to the airport. Image: Stuart Jenner/Shutterstock
International passenger growth was strong, with 2.8 percent more foreign visitors passing through the airport.
Overseas traffic continued to benefit from strong growth in Asian travellers, particularly those from China, which was again Sydney’s fastest growing market, up 16.4 percent in 2014.
Growth in Chinese travellers through Sydney Airport accounted for 50 percent of foreign nationality growth.
India was another strong international market last year, growing 11.9 percent compared to 2013, while visitors from Malaysia grew 11.6 percent.
Arrivals from the UK slightly dropped 2.1 percent in 2014, while visitation from the US spiked five percent.
Visitors from Korea increased slightly by 2.7 percent and those from Japan were up 0.8 percent. Airport attributed growth to additional aircraft flying to the gateway and upgraded aircraft.
“Sydney Airport welcomed Cebu Pacific Air for the first time in 2014 as well as a new route from Fiji Airways.”
Sydney Airport
“In addition, Virgin Australia, China Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Philippine Airlines, LAN and Singapore Airlines delivered frequency increases and Qantas, Air Canada and Cathay Pacific increased seat capacity by upgrading aircraft.”
“Etihad announced it will deploy its second flagship A380 aircraft on the Sydney route in 2015, adding 38% more capacity between Sydney and Abu Dhabi.”
In the domestic market, passenger numbers grew 1.2 percent last year, which was supported by both load factor improvement and capacity growth.
Load factors increased 1.9 percent points in the second half of 2014.
Within the domestic market, low cost carriers have grown strongly and contributed to declining real airfares, providing affordable travel to more passengers and opening new leisure markets.