Melbourne Airport Achieves 6 Percent Total Passenger Growth for First Quarter

 International and domestic passenger numbers at Melbourne Airport increased by 6 per cent during the first quarter of 2012/13 to reach a total of 7,451,583 passengers.

Melbourne Airport CEO, Mr Chris Woodruff, said that the financial year had started with solid growth in both international and domestic passengers.

“Victoria’s position as the premier destination in Australia for business, education or tourism has been reinforced by the commencement of new international services, with more to come in coming months,” Mr Woodruff said.

“We welcomed a second daily Singapore Airlines’ A380 service in August and in October, the new Emirates’ A380 service commenced, connecting Melbourne with Dubai and Auckland.”

“We were also thrilled with Sichuan Airlines’ recent announcement that they will commence services to Australia, choosing Melbourne as their very first Australian destination.  Jetstar also announced that they’ll reintroduce direct Honolulu-Melbourne services in December.”

International passengers grew by 4 per cent in the first quarter of 2012/13 compared to the same period last year.

Asia continued to drive growth with passport holders from Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and Vietnam all increasing by more than 10 per cent compared to the same quarter last year.

First quarter domestic passengers increased by 7 per cent to 5,720,170 passengers compared to the same quarter last year.

“We will continue to support our future growth and this year, we’ll spend more than $200 million on improving our facilities and access to Melbourne Airport.  We have a number of key internal road projects and traffic flow improvements underway, including further redevelopment of our forecourt area.”

Source and photo: Melbourne Airport