Record year for Sydney Airport

Record year for Sydney Airport
By admin


Sydney Airport has reported a record year, with 36.9 million passengers passing through the airport in 2012.

The number represents an increase of 3.6% on 2011 figures, with December emerging as the busiest month on record as traffic climbed 5.2%.

Chief executive Kerrie Mather described it as an "exceptional result".

"It was exciting to see such a significant increase in both international and domestic low cost carrier capacity, in particular Scoot, Jetstar and AirAsia X internationally and the expansion of domestic services by Jetstar and Tiger," she said.

International traffic rose 5.8% in December and 5.3% for the year, with Malaysian and Singaporean passengers leading the charge with increases of 59% and 34% respectively.

Australian outbound travel grew 6.5% in December and 5.9% for the full year.

"The outbound increase was driven by travel to South East Asian destinations such as Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, as well as travel further afield to locations such as the UAE, US, UK and Japan," Mather said.

Domestic traffic also saw growth, rising 4.8% for the month and 2.7% for the year with capacity hikes the key driver, according to Mather.

"Tiger and Jetstar have increased seat capacity materially over 2012 with both airlines introducing new routes and increasing frequencies on existing routes," she said.

Meanwhile, Melbourne Airport saw passenger growth of 5% for the calendar year to reach 29.3 million passengers.

The rise was also driven by growing international numbers and domestic capacity increases, according to chief executive Chris Woodruff.

"Throughout the year, we completed a number of key infrastructure projects, including facility and road improvements, to support our growth," he added.

The airport will publish its draft Master Plan in the first quarter of this year, setting out its vision for future development of the airport over the next two decades.

Latest News

  • Business Travel

Apparent launches ‘All heart, no hassle’ campaign for Flight Centre’s Corporate Traveller

Apparent’s first integrated brand campaign goes live this week for Corporate Traveller, the flagship SME business-to-business brand of Flight Centre Travel Group. The campaign features a number of scenarios with playful headlines such as ‘We’re friends with (travel booking) benefits’ and ‘Corporate by name, not by nature’ which gives the campaign a cheekiness and levity […]

  • Tourism

Indaba 2024: Losing out on memory, South Africa Tourism hands its fate to children

Thembisile Sehloho was appointed as the new chief marketing officer (CMO) South Africa Tourism in early April, so she’s literally had her feet under the desk for just longer than a month. At Africa’s Travel Indaba, David Hovenden sat down with for her only Australian interview and discussed the work being done on South Africa […]

  • Cruise

ACA & CLIA join forces ahead of Australian Tourism Exchange

Australian Cruise Association (ACA) and Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) will return to Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE) this month to promote the diverse range of cruising products in Australia to the international travel market. ATE is a pivotal opportunity to position Australia’s thriving cruise industry on the global stage and will this year be held […]

  • Destinations

South Africa eyes affordable tourism to grow market

Australian tourists feeling the pinch from the cost-of-living crisis, might find an unlikely ally in South African Tourism in the future according to a panel at Africa’s Travel Indaba (ATI). With six out of ten young Africans failing to explore their own continent, despite constituting the largest demographic within the 1.3 billion-strong African population, the […]

  • Luxury

COMO launches new family-sized farmhouse in the heart of Tuscany

COMO Hotels and Resorts has launched its new farmhouse apartments in the heart of Tuscany, just in time for Australians to escape our wet winter. And it’s also an ideal time for Aussies of Italian ancestry to explore their home country as 2024 has been declared the year of Roots and Heritage Tourism by the […]

  • Destinations
  • News

New Caledonia in lockdown and airport closed after violent riots rock Noumea

New Caledonia officials have announced a 6pm-6am curfew, a liquor ban and have closed the country’s main airport after overnight riots in which vehicles were torched and roads blocked in the wake of proposed constitutional reforms. Australian Government website Smartraveller has issued an alert informing visitors to exercise a high degree of caution in metropolitan […]