This may well be the last month in which Australia’s major capital city airports are not exceeding pre-pandemic domestic capacity. The three east coast airports of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne are gearing up for a busy school holiday period that usually generates plenty of domestic and international traffic.
Another milestone passed on the way to recovery
Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport (SYD) has been Australia’s leading gateway since commercial aviation began, and in May it handled just over 3 million passengers. Breaking through the 3 million passenger barrier returned the airport to 86% of pre-COVID capacity, with international traffic reaching its highest traffic in the last three years.
Photo: Eigenblau |Â Shutterstock
Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said the airport posted its strongest international traffic numbers since borders closed in 2020.
“In the first five months of this year, we’ve had 5.5 million international passengers through Sydney Airport, which is three times the number we saw in the same period in 2022. The recovery of the China market continues to impress, with passenger numbers on the mainland route increasing seven-fold since the start of the year.
“Capacity in this market will continue to grow with a total of seven airlines flying 48 return services per week between mainland China and Sydney in July. This is one of the strongest China recoveries of any international airport globally, which provides a critical boost to Australia’s tourism industry, and the economy more broadly.”
Last month there were 1.076 million passengers passing through the T1 international terminal, representing an 83% recovery compared to May 2019. Domestic traffic increased 5.5% year-on-year to 1.93 million passengers, which is encouraging but only 87% of pre-COVID capacity.
Domestic travel in Australia, particularly on mainline routes, is expensive, and with the cost of living pressures impacting household budgets, airfares are deterring some travelers. Sydney Airport, the home of Qantas, has said for some time that there needs to be more capacity in the domestic market to generate competition and drive airfares down to more affordable levels.
Where are the travelers coming from?
While international traffic is rapidly climbing, some major markets are still well below pre-pandemic visitor levels, leaving plenty of upside for the airport during the northern summer months. Aside from Australians, the top ten nationalities using the airport (in order) are from New Zealand, China, USA, India, South Korea, UK, the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia.
Photo: Ryken Martin | Shutterstock
Chinese visitors are soaring up those rankings, yet the traffic from China is only 54% of 2019 numbers, although it is up from 22% at the start of this year. During June, direct flights from Shenzhen will resume, and in July, Nanjing flights will also return, linking Sydney directly to nine mainland China cities.
The seven airlines serving Sydney are China Eastern, China Southern, Air China, Xiamen Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Beijing Capital and Tianjin Airlines. The highest frequency route is the China Southern service from Guangzhou (CAN) which operates 14 times weekly, followed by the 11 times weekly China Eastern service from Shanghai (PVG).
Have you been through Sydney Airport recently? Let us know about it in the comments.
