Melbourne Airport achieves 11% international passenger growth in 2011

Jan 19, 2012

Melbourne Airport finished 2011 with strong international passenger growth of 11 per cent compared to 2010 or an additional 651,157 passengers, taking total international passengers for the 2011 calendar year to 6.6 million.

Melbourne Airport CEO, Mr Chris Woodruff said, “I’d like to thank all of our airline customers for their continuing support of Melbourne Airport and Victoria throughout 2011.”

“Victoria’s stand out advantage is our curfew free status.  The flexibility and convenience this offers both our passengers and airline customers is undeniable.  This, combined with our single terminal precinct and low aeronautical fees, makes Melbourne Airport the only major Australian airport to provide these complementary advantages.”

In 2011, countries with strong growth in passport holders included New Zealand, China, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan.

Source:http://melbourneairport.com.au/About-Melbourne-Airport/Media/Media-releases/melbourne-airport-achieves-11-international-passenger-growth-in-2011-674.html

The strong international passenger growth contributed to more than 27.9 million passengers passing through Melbourne Airport in the 2011 calendar year, an increase of one per cent compared to 2010.

“Domestically, 2011 was a particularly tough year, with the well publicised weather and airline events that disrupted services,” said Mr Woodruff.

Domestic passengers declined by 2 per cent to 21.3 million passengers in 2011 compared to 2010. 

“In 2011 we focused on managing our growth and improving the Melbourne Airport experience for our passengers and our airline customers.”

“We were proud to launch the new Ring & Ride waiting zone in December where people can now wait for arriving passengers for free for up to 20 minutes.  We encourage people to make the most of this waiting zone as it’s an easy, and most importantly, a safe alternative to parking on the side of the Tullamarine Freeway or other roads.” 

“December also saw the opening of our revamped forecourt to help ease congestion in and around our terminal as well as the final stores in our international departures area including Melbourne’s only Victoria’s Secret and Bar Pulpo by Movida.  There’s now also more space in our international arrivals area as well as another baggage carousel with another still to come this year.”

“In 2012, one of the key projects we will be working on is our new domestic terminal which will be adjacent to the existing terminals.  We’ll be releasing plans and more information on this in the coming months.”

“We’re looking forward to 2012 and to working with our airline customers to continue to provide a great service at Melbourne Airport.”

For the month of December, international passengers increased by 8 per cent resulting in 637,209 passengers, an additional 46,101 passengers compared to the same period last year. Australian passport holders increased by 9.8 per cent compared to December 2010. Domestically, passengers declined by 5.4 per cent compared to the same period last year, resulting in a total of 1,805,069 domestic passengers.