23
February
2015
|
09:00
Australia/Brisbane

BNE achieves strong international growth for Jan/Dec

Brisbane Airport (BNE) has recorded the fastest rate of growth of any capital airport in Australia in December and January with a 7.1 per cent increase in international passengers (or an additional 62,700) over the two months.  

Seat capacity at BNE was up by 5.0 per cent on the same eight week period last year, equating to more than 62,000 additional seats.  

Leading the capacity growth were Jetstar thanks to its new Honolulu and Denpasar services, and Virgin Australia who grew to daily on the BNE-Los Angeles route.

Additionally, China Airlines scheduled larger aircraft, while China Southern operated a daily Guangzhou service for the second year in a row, with Singapore Airlines offering supplementary services.

The take-up of the additional seats was strong, with load factors improving by 1.4 percentage points year-on-year to an average of 72.6 per cent.  

There were four days in December and January where traffic exceeded 18,000 travellers, and two days in January where traffic exceeded 19,000 travellers, breaking records at BNE.

Two-thirds of the additional passengers were Australian passport holders with an increase of 10.2 per cent on the same period last year.  

Visitor markets contributing the most to overall growth were New Zealand, China, Japan and India.  

Julieanne Alroe, Brisbane Airport Corporation (BAC) CEO and Managing Director said the results were a stellar finish to 2014 and a great start to 2015.

“ A record increase in international travellers to BNE benefits everyone. These travellers are bringing their tourist dollars to the region and travelling onward from Brisbane throughout the state and Australia.

“Airlines increasing their services and scheduling larger aircraft on flights to and from Brisbane is a vote of confidence in the market and the popularity of our city and state,” Ms Alroe said.